Lammergeyer
Birds of Pray
CDR / 10 tracks / 59.26 mins

Lammergeyer records for the Dataobscura label. 'Birds of Pray' is music designed as a soundtrack to an imaginary film. The CD is split into ten parts of a track called 'Thermal'. The first part initially features soft pads then flutes and a sort of rattling mechanical sound. After about ninety seconds a rhythmic loop starts up but it is very low in the mix. More and more is added building to quite a dense sonic wall until being stripped down again in the third minute.

Things ebb and flow, at one moment building to some sort of crescendo which never quite materialises then flowing back. 'Part 2' retains a mechanical quality, this time like the ticking of clocks over which can be heard birdsong and more soft flute. It's all rather relaxing. 'Part 3' is subtitled 'Void' and is suitably dark, a powerful vast drone dominating proceedings. 'Part 4' uses gently undulating cyclical windy drones, slowly increasing in intensity as they progress. 'Part 5' piles drone upon drone to create a moodier atmosphere. White noise crashes in waves and there are even a few cosmic bleeps and whooshes punctuating it all. 'Part 6' quietens things down again, subtlety being the order of the day. Each sound is given plenty of space, the temptation to over clutter being resisted. As a result it has a rather pleasant cosmic feel and is my favourite track on the album.

'Parts 7 and 8' had a similar feel but this time a wind swept moor land comes to mind. The beginning of 'Part 9' takes us back to more structured realms as lovely pulsations gently ripple from the speakers. It isn't long however before we return to breezy atmospherics and then at around the five- minute mark a very nice gentle understated melodic section. It's another high point of the album. The final part is also excellent using looped percussion and subtle melody to create a rather dreamy feeling which then suddenly takes a decidedly darker twist as deep pads mix with the sound of spectres floating over the top. Just after the half way mark the pulsations return and immediately lighten the mood again providing a good finish. I thought this album was OK but I didn't quite enjoy it as much as the other Databloem / Dataobscure releases I had heard. Yes it is inventive but I found some of it a tad heavy going. People who are more into modern ambient music than I am might be able to relate to it, in its entirety, much better than I however. (DL)

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