Dirk Serries & Rutger Zuydervelt | website | facebook | twitter | bandcamp |
Released on May 22, 2015 via ConSouling Sounds
Dirk Serries and Rutger Zuydervelt’s collaboration Bouyant is exactly that, a floating, anaesthetic, cotton wool dream of grey-to-white ambience.
In the background of opener ‘Lost Trail’ there’s a faint rotating whirr, the audial equivalent of staring at a ceiling fan on a sunlight morning in bed when there is nothing whatsoever you need to get out of bed for. The calm soporific tones are all soft-edged like painkillers, until a slight hint of ragged textures in the gentle krshhh of hazy airplane trails, which streak across the otherwise luminous and empty drone sky. The same cycle of unobtrusive soft hums coming and going runs around and again with the faintest of variations until the trail finally meanders out of sight.
‘The Whispering Scale’ continues in much the same character, but with just slightly more tension held by a quietly sawing mid-level tone while the slowly chiming spheres revolve below. Around the midpoint of the longish track some staticky interferences liven things up a little, hinting at almost beats, almost insect chirping background.
The third track has the same rounded tones, but swells and expands enough that the limits of the sound are subtly frayed and weathered. Before you’ve even found out that the title for this piece is ‘The Unravelled Blanket’ you’re conjuring ideas of warmth, but conscious of where the edges are. ‘The Dissection’ has a bit more atmosphere to it, with a distant thunder/microphone muffle growl and a lighthouse sweep sonar blip pulse. The washing notes are even a bit gloomier, and there’s more overt strange sounds being manipulated.
This is a carefully and subtly crafted ambient drone record. Ultimately, the soundscape is so pastel-coloured and ambient that it becomes almost sleep-inducing. It makes for an interesting focus on the tiny intricacies of the sounds that aren’t completely smoothed off, but in the end, I’m not sure I’d ever listen to it that closely if I weren’t tasked with reviewing it. It’s the middle of the day and I need to go and listen to some death metal in order to wake me up.
