"Slumber, savage beasts
In lonesome winter forest
Breath deep your chorus"
If you pick the songs 1, 3 and 5 from Slumber, Savage Beasts and you read the track titles you realize the beauty of the hidden haiku that gives you the idea of the conceptual framework of the new album from Aural Method.
The sublime ambient post rock music that Matt Kidd from Houston, Texas, makes under the name of Aural Method is itself a superb escape into dreaming landscapes and the chosen titles put in poetry what Matt expresses through music.
Slumber, Savage Beasts arrives just a few months after the melodic and orchestral début album When I Drifted I Heard a Faint Melody. The new work from the Texan artist weaves ambient textures recorded live in a room on guitar, bass, and drums with no isolation and the outcome sounds amazing from the first spin.
Listening to When I Drifted I Heard a Faint Melody and the sequel Slumber, Savage Beasts the association with Hammock's sound is immediate, especially when the sound becomes more ambient, and in some places it makes me think of Explosions In The Sky when it's more cinematic. The overall atmosphere of both albums from Aural Method is together joyful and deep with a unique blend of music and poetry where you don't understand what inspired first, music or poetry, or if they both come from a vision of life expressed through art.
Slumber, Savage Beasts is a lovely record of 5 songs that in about 45 minutes tells a beautiful story set in imaginative landscapes of ambient music that are both warm and captivating.
The first line of the haiku opens the album with a notable slide guitar and a soft drum. It's not simply ambient music, it's not simply post rock. It's very good music and I'm sure you'll appreciate the amazing crescendo of this song towards the second half of the song. Why wait when you can burn soon? This is what Matt does at the fifth minute of album. Stunning.
The second track, 'In a lonesome strike winter forest', starts with a chorus of ethereal voices before becoming melodic where guitar, drum, violin and cello accompany you walking into a forest where the sun is strong enough to across the thick threes. Should you be in a bad mood, press play and this song will change your day.
My favorite from the album is the last line of the haiku, 'Breathe deep your chorus', where Matt, together with the bass of Zach Hendricks, the drum of Cody Smith, the cello of Aimee Norris and the magistral violin of Andy Shelton create a beautifully crafted melody and a sober, elegant acoustic landscape. It has the same mood of the other two track but the style is different and all together the three songs are a well combined mix of sounds.
Being a haiku composed by only three lines, the other two tracks work as caesuras as their eloquent titles, 'Caesura 1' and 'Caesura 2', demonstrate. The two poetic pauses that remind one of the debut album of Aural method are more ambient and, with the aim to create a soft link between the main album moments, they represent a nice floating in blue ocean or a walk on soft clouds.
Slumber, Savage Beasts is really an enjoyable experience from the beginning to the end. Positive and joyful, has the power to change your mood. And Aural Method is another brilliant gem that shines in the post rock, ambient sky of Texas.
