Pagans is the second release from the ambient electronica project Nunbient, and is a single twenty three minute track in five parts that seemingly picks up from the desolate landscape that formed the sonic territory of the debut album One: Just Another Dark Age. The instrumental focus this time shifts to the warm yet eerie sound of analogue synthesizers that, despite having only been in general usage for the past forty years or so, in this music seem to sound impossibly ancient. Each of the first four "movements" are based around a single synth sequence, which is then treated via various looping techniques and additional material to create a powerful electronic sound-world that both looks back at the Radiophonic Workshop and early synth pioneers Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, whilst being firmly within the territory of contemporary influences such as Aphex Twin and Boards Of Canada. The swirling web of synth melodies are woven together with the use of strange and unsettling bursts of audio verite, which combine to conjure up an epic and highly visual quality that is unashamedly symphonic in its effect, with the final brief fifth movement acting as a coda that brings the work to hymn-like conclusion.
credits
released December 25, 2009
Written produced and performed by Nunbient at Yellow and Little Benteens 2009
Ah, why didn't I buy this earlier? Has been on my wishlist since it's release and Bad Elephant Music's sampler and ongoing sales campaign luckily triggered the buy.
Tags given are post-progressive and post-rock, but the music feels much lighter than I usually associate with those tags. Quite song-oriented, indeed. Great music, great vocals. Carsten Pieper
Straddling the threshold between studio performance and digital technique; the NYC artist applies "fake jazz" principles to synthpop. Bandcamp New & Notable May 2, 2024
Composer, producer, and Folly Group co-leader Laggard salutes early industrial and grime through a hard-hitting, club-focused side project. Bandcamp New & Notable May 2, 2024
I'm a recent Sanguine Hum convert and I can't believe it's taken me until now to discover them! This is a simply fabulous album. If you're a Steven Wilson, Anathema or even a Gentle Giant, Jellyfish or Hatfield and the North fan, get yourself a copy. Great musicianship, wonderful melodies, superb voice, top songwriting. John Ferguson