Nunc Stans The Cerulean Suite Play Sample:   56K Dialup   Broadband   Download Sample:   500K   1.5Mb (Excerpt from track(s) 'Endless In Itself')

Nunc Stans is a new name to me, and a fairly strange one! He/They record on the DataObscura label (CDR wing of the impressive ambient label Databloem). Let's get on with the music.

A deep drone and disembodied synth sounds herald 'Endless in Itself'. A beautiful, melancholy, melody is deployed at the 1 minute mark. A distant, metallic sounding 'sequence' (in no way berlin-school) hovers in the background. The melody is joined at the 4 minute mark by gorgeously thick analogue pads. Most of the mix elements leave at the 7 minute mark, leaving a simple pad. Out of this rises a simple, 'ticking' sequence. Abstract notes ebb and flow to ensure interest- they constantly move across the stereo field – Nunc Stans certainly has an eye for detail! Strange vocal samples enter and the mood darkens considerably. Another mournful melody enters, and again it's rather beautiful. It seems to be a trademark for Nunc Stans, having beautiful melodies alongside more challenging backings – it really works.

'A Logic of Dissolution' again opens in abstract ambient fashion with a drone and various effects. More symphonic elements gradually make themselves heard above the abstract 'soup'. A rather strange rhythm, sounding like escaping steam, kicks into life at the 6 minute mark. Fragments of melody flash across the track, but don't stick around – there's a lot going but the mix is skillfully handled. 'It Passes Before You' opens in the bowels of the earth with one of the deepest drones I've ever encountered in a track! Various synth effects stalk the drone; it's ominous, and creepy, stuff! Eventually a positively funereal melody begins a slow march across the track. Vocal samples add to the feeling of isolation or sadness. Snatches of disembodied rhythms, sounding like distant trains, come and go – this is highly descriptive music. The track stays in this dark place until the 13th minute (appropriately!) when the sound of a mellotron signals a distinct change in mood. A rhythmic, ticking sequence adds structure and vast pads swell to create a more optimistic atmosphere.

A breathy digital pad opens 'Plane of Similitude'. Heavily echoed runs of notes hover in the ether. Metallic effects twitter intermittently. A beautiful melody snakes through the carefully constructed mix. A fabulously syncopated rhythm, sounding very Boddy-like to me, makes itself felt – it rises in volume and I'm in contemporary beat-driven ambient heaven (does such a place exist!). What a superb track!