Seofon Zero Point

Must admit that I simply don't understand the concept behind this one. Even though the booklet is in English I haven't the slightest idea what it is on about or who Seofon is or if indeed it is really a person. I might have been a little the wiser if I had visited the web address given but quite frankly I didn't have the time and if music has to be explained to me in order for me to enjoy it, it's not the sort of thing that will bother my CD player more than once.

As with another CD I have just reviewed however, also with mumbo jumbo text, the music is in fact not at all bad. This is hardly surprising when the people performing on it are a "who's who" of ambient music. Vidna Obmana appears on five of the eight tracks, Steve Roach on four. Robert Rich and Stephen Kent also appear. 'Seofon' is only credited on three tracks! Basically if you like Steve Roach and Vidna Obmana you should like this.

'Splendors' begins with waves of white noise, just a little metallic percussion in the background. Dark drones start up then some brighter pads join them. In the third minute a rhythmic loop enters sounding like a cross between a train and tribal rhythms. It becomes more strident chugging along nicely before starting to fade away into atmospherics a couple of minutes from the end. 'The Gift' is very short, lasting barely two minutes with some rather strange looped percussion sounding like a mild industrial track with some almost growling effects in the background. 'Collecting the Spirits' has a dark ominous feel, rhythm being provided by some odd sort of maraca sound. There is also what could be a growling didgeridoo which gives a hint of menace. Things develop nicely each element increasing in intensity only flowing back to atmospherics in the last two minutes.

'Science of Success' is a very intriguing collage of backward sounds and windy pads. A rhythm enters and gets into a rather good head nodding groove. It wouldn't have been out of place on one of Ian Boddy's more recent albums actually. There's also a really good electric guitar (I think) which soars over the top like a wailing spectre- superb stuff. 'Mystery of Freewill' calms things down somewhat in that it is a peaceful floater with some very nice almost vocal sounding pads. It then goes through a watery cavernous section with a very nice melodic motif. 'Rev. 20:13 teknos (the seeding)' is the longest track at over 18 minutes. Again it makes use of rather windy pads but with dark undercurrents. Percussion is used here and there, just adding a little colour to all the float, then some faint American Indian type chanting can just be heard in the background. It then becomes somewhat complex- a bit like hearing an orchestra tuning up. Strangely it is quite hypnotic, gradually starting on a very long fade to the finish.