Listenable – White Hinterland: Kairos – underwater ice music
Posted by Mat | Filed under Music
It’s my new sub-genre: underwater ice music.
Imagine Superman’s Fortress of Solitude or the Ice Queen’s Palace. Now put it in an underwater ice cave. What music would be played there? Sonically it would be defined by notes that hang in the could air, voices and string plucks echo off of icy walls, and beats that reverberate throughout the structure and then dissipate into the surrounding waters.
Historically, Underwater Ice music has it’s deepest roots in the following two sounds:
His Name is Alive – Livonia | Home Is In Your Head
Quite possibly one of the most unsung bands from 4AD’s heyday, His Name is Alive probably suffered from being between the Cocteau Twins and Pixies eras.
Consisting on a wild mix of tapes spliced and edited, His Name is Alive’s first two albums are lush, but schizophrenic, soundscapes in which single guitar strings ring louder than the pulse of the drums, and the vocals hum out of some unseen space. If the Grudge has a soft spot and a love of avant garde music, it would be a fan.
Bjork – Vespertine
The follow up to 90s defining album, Homogenic, Vespertine is often the overlooked album between the “big deal” disc and the one that was featured in the ‘04 Sydney Olympics.
Vespertine does away with the austere cyber future ascetics of Homogenic, and marries the artificial with the organic. Drum machines sputter and drift while breathy vocals fill the remaining space. For some reason or another, it’s considered a sensual album – perhaps it’s some sort of neo-primitive sensuality, but there’s nothing decidedly warm about the album, instead it’s just raw and overpowering, like windchill.
White Hinterland – Kairos
Is there any other band name more closely tied to the notion of Underwater Ice music than White Hinterland? If there is, it’s most probably some Norwegian Black Metal band.
Digression aside, Kairos is available for pre-oder – a deal that comes with a full album rip (all at 320 bps).
Kairos begins with the previously discussed Icarus, which serves more to set the listener up for a softer, more layer and ethereal, sound. The next track, Moon Jam, dispels this notion entirely.
Kairos continues on with thuds, plucks, and echo – as per it underwater ice roots, but adds a bit of trip-hop thematics, vocally and in terms of beat structure. It’s a major departure from White Hinterlands previous album Phylactery Factory, which was far too deep into the “Feist-y singing lady” genre to break out. On the other hand, Kairos boldly moves my newly invented genre into the 10’s. Maybe in another decade or so we’ll find another artist to lump into the subgenre.
Tags: bjork, his name is alive, listenable, underwater ice music, white hinterland
