Following 2006’s acclaimed release Sinkhole, Florence-based musicians Massimo Magrini of Bad Sector and Zairo of Where have reunited as Olhon to present the world with another strongly conceptual dark ambient release based on field recordings. Whilst Sinkhole was constructed from recordings made in the Pozzo del Merro, a flooded cave system near Rome, Underwater Passage uses recordings made – guess what? – underwater, specifically recordings made from a contact microphone attached to an abandoned telephone cable running along the seabed near Livorno, Italy. The elegant blue-grey six panel digipack sleeve of the album boasts geekishly detailed notes about the technical procedures followed – “All the treating parameters were controlled by statistic quasi-random modulators, avoiding the use of microstructures driven by arbitrary artistic taste…” etc.
All this textual explanation and visual imagery is of course less important, however, than what the music actually sounds like. After the brief intro track ‘Entrance’, a relatively busy series of reverberating waves of swooping tones, the main business of Underwater Passage comes in the form of the two long tracks ‘Underwater Calls’ I and II, which clock in at around 22 and 18 minutes respectively. These are leisurely, expansive soundscapes of smooth tones and drones gently and mesmerically lapping over and fading into one another, like the ocean tides and currents from which these recordings emerged. Every now and then, a busier incursion of noise evokes random events such as small rocks hitting the miked-up cable or bubbles rising to the surface. Mid-frequency tones predominate, with bursts of high frequency, but this isn’t an album full of low-end drones, as is so common in dark ambient. Despite what Olhon claim in their sleeve notes, it’s hard to believe that these compositions are the entirely random result of nature’s caprices – they are just too harmonious and poised for that. I believe a lot of mixing and manipulation of the source recordings must have taken place to produce these results, which are a long way from being raw field recordings.
Dark ambient music in general displays a strong affinity for extreme environments, in which human existence is difficult or impossible – offhand, I can think of releases themed around interstellar travel, the Antarctic, deep sea exploration, lunar landings etc. Another popular and related theme within the genre is abandoned human structures – disused factories and military installations, crypts, catacombs, cellars and tunnels, ancient ruins, all kinds of places where humans have moved on, leaving their mark behind to decay and fade with the passage of the centuries. Underwater Passage, of course, scores highly on both these indexes, being recorded in an environment only accessible to humans using special equipment (the recording were made with the assistance of two divers), and also using an abandoned phone cable – its status as an abandoned artefact is significant, I think. There are photos on the sleeve of the coral-encrusted cable, and the sleeve notes also refer to “the image of a human made thing so deeply integrated in an amazing, extreme scenery”.
This very neatly summarises the preoccupation at the very heart of dark ambient with the confrontation between human beings and the universe they find themselves in, the staggering realisation of the spectacular insignificance of man in the amoral, indifferent cosmic scheme of things. Space is deep, time is long, we are nothing. Nature will reclaim its territory. Some ambient musicians find this a terrifying prospect and the dark music they make reflects their fears, but some relish the idea of the human ego and identity being annihilated and dissolved into an oceanic unity. Olhon come down somewhere on the less fearful end of this spectrum – Underwater Passage is not an especially menacing or dark work. Instead, it’s filled with a sense of expansive wonder and delight in the mysteries that fill the world’s many spaces beyond the intervention and habitation of man. A highly absorbing and recommended release from a project with enormous potential.
[ Heathen Harvest ]
This release brings together two of Italy's most genuine creative minds, in the form of Massimo Magrini and Zairo, in a truly original & stunning collaboration. While each has made their own lasting impact upon the dark ambient scene with their own respective acts (Bad Sector & Where), the second work of their joint project. Olhon takes them both into ground-breaking new territory. 'Sinkhole' is composed of field recordings from Zairo's excursions into Pozzo del Merro, the worlds deepest sinkhole (a subterranean cavern often formed in limestone bedrock by the inward collapsing of a cave roof) located east of Rome. The geological nature of such sinkholes can create vast underground caverns flooded by the draining water that helped create them, and the sound samples collected by Zairo (recorded both firsthand and also with various sensing equipment & remotely operated vehicles) provide an organic sonic pallette rarely matched before. The sheer grandeur of Pozzo del Merro (1016 ft deep, large enough to swallow the Eiffel Tower whole) is reflected in both the cavernous reverberating echoes of its dry cave complexes, and also the sparse eerie underwater currents of the small lake contained in its depths - the perfect abyssic textures required for a such a haunting & claustrophobic journey into the rarely glimpsed tellurian void...
Album opener 'The Descent' is the gateway to our mystical journey, invoking the spirit of the classical Hero entering the underworld, & reminds us of the first stage of the Mythic path, that of entering the abyss in search of revelation & trials of self-initiation. 'On Sea Level' then takes us further into the initial brooding dark, where the shadows seem to imperceptibly layer & thicken around the listener's edge of vision.
The next two tracks then cast us into the bowels of Pozza del Merro, as indicted by a measurment of depth appended to the end of their titles (an effective device then used through the rest of the album to give us the only reference point available within the sinkhole's damp hollows). Only the ROV's can give us the sounds we encounter here, places where no man can reach, and nature slowly reveals how truly alien her unrevealed chasms are - the shifting innards of the earth reminiscent of the grinding of human bones into transient dust, or the movements of buried lakes reflecting the sounds of violent surface storms.
The paradox of an unearthly peace can also be found here too though, as can glimpses of hidden revelations, as hinted in 'ROV Mercuria' & 'Unexplored' - the old adage of 'as above, so below' ideally reflected here in the sound textures of deep fissures almost hinting at the currents of deep space winds.
'Hiball 300 R.O.V' is the last of the tracks composed of textures captured from the lowest hollows of the chasmic complex and accurately recreates the yawning claustrophobia we find there, threatening to engulf us with shifting fears & paranoia - organic hints of unseen life barely perceptible, yet all the more oppresive by their refusal to make themselves fully apparent to our comprehension.
The remaining trilogy of soundscapes begin to bring us back to the surface, but with no less trepidation than those captured from the lowest pits - as if the sinkhole's truths cannot be left behind once clearly viewed, the tellurian branded upon the returning consciousness in a lasting unbidden revelation of uncomfortable awe. A final sounding into Pozzo del Merro teases us still further with hints of the unseen, and reminds us of its unlimited potential - returning from the abyssic journey has indelibly changed our perceptions in ways undreamt of at the adventure's inception, and we return to the surface carrying a small part of its depths within us...
Simultaneously fascinating and oppressive, alien sounding yet entirely organic in form, Ohlon have produced a work of unbridled genius with this true work of art - something so fitting to expectations of this genre, yet transcending its boundaries so eloquently. Take a journey into this 200 million year old rarely explored natural phenomena, and be transformed.....an essential work that all should experience.
[ Heathen Harvest ]
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M.Magrini,
of Bad Sector fame, has teamed up with Zairo for this latest project named Olhon.
The first release for this meeting of minds on the Eibon Records label - there
were possibly others before this release, though I can’t find any information
to back this up. Whenever you need the Internet to come up trumps it inevitably
lets you down.
‘Sinkhole’ is a musical journey to the centre of the
earth. Actually it’s a journey into a depression in the land surface called
the Pozzo del Merro situated somewhere east of Rome. Comprising two parts, dry
and wet, the sinkhole dates back 200 million years and is made of limestone. In
the dry section the walls are covered in vegetation whilst on the bottom, the
wet part, lies a small lake hiding a dark abyss more than 1016 feet deep. It is
the biggest sinkhole in the world. And Zairo went and explored both parts. He’s
a braver man than me Gunga Din. Taking with him recording equipment he captured
the sounds emanating naturally from the sinkhole using special microphones and
sensing equipment and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV). These sounds were then
treated, processed and mixed by both artists back in the studio. The resulting
10 tracks, spread over 41 minutes, will leave you, quite frankly, speechless.
To
call "Sinkhole" an ambient recording doesn’t fully do it justice.
Sure the sounds that the artists have coaxed from the surroundings are steeped
in ambience, dark and dank so fitting a description, and obscure aural dimensions
but in reality you’re hearing something that very few of you will ever experience
in your lifetime. This is a sonic journey into the unknown. The ROV going further
than the length of the Eiffel Tower to capture the ongoing atmospheres of the
abyss. You sense the light invading moss covered half of the sinkhole before plunging
deep into the prevailing claustrophobic darkness and heart stopping chill of the
water in the abyss. All these sounds created primarily by nature itself.
The
Bad Sector project by M Magrini is well renowned. He explores sound like so few
others. Every release is an experimental adventure that can provoke great debate
and sheer excitement in equal measure. "Sinkhole" by Olhon continues
on with that tradition. The lines dictating what constitutes actual music increasingly
blurred and crossed at will. He couldn’t have made this recording without
the adventurous spirit showed by Zairo whose concept it was in the first place.
"Sinkhole" is a fitting and lasting testimony to the talents of both
these explorers who tread the paths others fear.
[ Al
- Aural Pressure ]
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Assolutamente
impressionante. Un CD di spessore "monumentale", che sembra aver preso
forma direttamente dalle profondità delle più impenetrabili viscere
della terra... Dietro questo indiscusso capolavoro di musica d'impronta fortemente
oscura e drone-oriented, che definire però "dark-ambient" sarebbe
alquanto riduttivo e impreciso, hanno "operato" gli italiani Zairo e
Massimo Magrini, già conosciuti per i rispettivi progetti personali "Where"
e "Bad Sector". Indispensabili alcune note esplicative, tratte dalla
copertina del CD, presentato peraltro da Eibon in una elegantissima e pregiata
confezione in cartoncino. Il "Pozzo del Merro" è una profonda
depressione sulla superficie della terra, situata a pochi chilometri ad est di
Roma. Si tratta sostanzialmente di una profonda cavità naturale verticale,
in gran parte sommersa dalle acque, che termina a forma di imbuto nella parte
superficiale, apparendo come un piccolo lago del diametro di circa trenta metri.
La parte asciutta e imbutiforme di questo "pozzo", ricoperta di rigogliosa
vegetazione, arriva ad una profondità di circa 70 metri rispetto al suolo
cirostante. La parte più stretta e sommersa invece, che è stata
esplorata diverse volte nel corso degli ultimi anni per determinarne la profondità,
si spinge ulteriormente nel sottosuolo ancora per 392 metri, come evidenziato
dall'ultima rilevazione effettuata nel marzo del 2002; ma non si tratta in realtà
dell'effettivo limite estremo, in quanto sembra che attraverso un più stretto
e ricurvo percorso sotterraneo l'abisso si spinga ancora più in profondità...
Zairo, attraverso l'utilizzo di particolari microfoni e speciali apparecchiature,
ha contribuito alla realizzazione di questo CD effettuando delle incredibili registrazioni
in loco, sia nella parte "asciutta" di questa depressione, sia nella
zona superficiale della più profonda area sommersa. Magrini, come anche
lo stesso Zairo, ha successivamente rielaborato in studio il materiale sonoro
originale, attraverso l'applicazione di vari processi ed effetti quali pitch shifting,
filtraggi, riverberi, missaggi, dissolvenze... Il risultato finale, come già
anticipato, è assolutamente incredibile e straordinario, per impatto, per
la qualità del suono, per profondità, per dinamica... Vivamente
consigliato in questo caso specifico un "doppio ascolto" del CD; uno
in stato di assoluto "isolamento" dall'ambiente esterno, attraverso
una buona cuffia in grado di riprodurre le frequenze più basse altrimenti
non percepibili attraverso il vostro (seppur ottimo...) impianto stereo, l'altro
invece, più "naturale", a volume piuttosto sostenuto attraverso
i diffusori, esperienza che vi regalerà incredibili vibrazioni "fisiche",
colpendo dritto allo stomaco nei momenti di maggiore dinamica e impatto, e consentendovi
di percepire concretamente, anche a a livello "tattile" e "corporeo",
le incredibili metamorfosi sonore delle dieci tracce presenti su questo CD, tutte
idealmente ispirate all'espolorazione in profondità di questo oscuro abisso
naturale ancora parzialmente inviolato.
[ Giuseppe
Verticchio - Oltre il Suono ]
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Il
suono pulsante della Terra
Prendete un pozzo. Il Pozzo del Merro nelle vicinanze
dell’Urbe. Una cavità carsica profonda ben 392 metri.
Il pozzo più
profondo del mondo. Un luogo impossibile da immaginare. Nero, buio ed abitato
da chissà quali entità mostruose. Quali suoni possono generare posti
così irraggiungibili dall’uomo? Naturalmente profondi. Spessi, oscurissimi
e glaciali. Una collezione di rumori, suoni naturali registrati con sofisticate
apparecchiature ed elaborate, scarnificate, dilatate e strutturate da due sapienti
mani che rispondono ai nomi di Bad Sector e Where.
Il
concept è curatissimo in tutti i suoi dettagli, niente è lasciato
al caso. Il lavoro grafico è al solito lussuoso, fondamentale il retro
copertina che riprende una sezione del Pozzo del Merro con le sue discese in metri
contrassegnate da note informative. Ogni traccia pesca i suoi suoni in differenti
profondità, una soluzione che porta ogni singolo episodio su binari differenti,
una sorta di micro-discese nelle profondità della terra. “R.O.V. Prometeo”
si avvale di una base tenebrosa e soffocata, coperta da sottili ed affilati suoni
in alta frequenza, atmosfere inquietanti e misteriose che trovano un appoggio
fisico nelle più estreme profondità del Pozzo, ben 392 metri. Più
profondo e dotato di bassi che fan tremare le pareti la ‘solare’ “On
Sea Level” ed ipnotica la malignità di “R.O.V. Mercurio”.
Un progetto atipico ed originale che non trova noia lungo il suo profondo percorso,
niente brani esasperanti nella loro infinita lunghezza, pochi minuti intrisi di
un sound naturale maledetto in superficie ma benevolo nel profondo.
Tra
le migliori uscite in ambito ambient di questa prima metà 2006. Un concept
solido, inedito e studiato, un sound ricco e variegato ed una produzione che abbraccia
con dovizia di particolari tutti i dettagli del progetto.
[
Aldo Volpe - Kronic ]
-------------------------------------------------------------
Tra
la valle del Tevere e i monti Cornicolani c’è un po’ di Carso.
Il pozzo del Merro è una specie di dolina, una sorta di cavità scavata
dall’acqua, ricoperta dalla vegetazione e in parte allagata: se trasformassimo
la profondità in altezza, otterremmo la torre Eiffel.
È
così impervio che l’uomo non riesce a esplorarlo tutto, ma deve usare
dei ROV, specie di veicoli/robot telecomandati, per “vederne” la parte
subacquea. Sinkhole racconta per suoni questo luogo, dunque ha il vantaggio di
essere anzitutto una storia interessante, anche per come sarà stato avventuroso
raccogliere tutti i field recordings che gli danno corpo. Molti assoceranno tutto
questo a Lustmord e in effetti questo disco è “dark ambient”
in senso etimologico più che nell’accezione giornalistica, ma sarebbe
quasi il caso di parlare di musica concreta: i suoni naturali sono lì,
nudi, senza nessuno che li vesta, la registrazione non è mai troppo filtrata
o decontestualizzata, ma serve a ricostruire il paesaggio al quale appartiene.
Menzionare
una traccia o un’altra non ha molto senso, perché, come spesso accade
per l’ambient, bisogna scegliere di ascoltare, prendersi il tempo di scendere
e immergersi in questo Sinkhole ricreato Zairo e Massimo Magrini (Bad Sector).
Ci si trova certo di fronte a una sorta di “documentario” minimale di
non facile fruibilità, però il pozzo del Merro potrebbe risucchiare
più di qualcuno nel suo buio opprimente, grazie a suoni che galleggiano
costantemente nelle orecchie, creando un senso dello spazio impossibile da rendere
a parole: è come se l’aria e poi l’acqua fossero davvero lì
a esercitare la loro pressione fisica sui timpani, mentre il cervello si perde
a seguire il percorso dei vari rumori “occasionali” e misteriosi che
si susseguono l’un l’altro.
[ Fabrizio
Garau - Audiodrome ]
-------------------------------------------------------------
Olhon
is a project conducted by Zairo (research, on-site recordings and treatments)
and Massimo (technical assistance, treatments and mixing) and SINKHOLE is their
second album after their CD released back in 2001 titled "Veiovis".
Olhon isn’t properly a musical project because their main activity consist
of treatment of field recordings taken into particular places. For this release
the duo chose a sinkhole called Pozzo del Merro, located at few Km from Rome.
Hidden by a dry part (where there’s some luxurious vegetation) and by a little
lake, the sinkhole goes deeply into the ground for a total of 1016 feet. The hole
is also divided into four different parts named after the various explorative
immersions. The recordings have been taken at different depths of the Pozzo del
Merro thanks to particular microphones and software. The original recordings then
have been treated into the recording studio avoiding the incidental creation of
musical structures. The final result is an obscure ambient album that will scare
the hell out of you at each noise. These are the sounds of our mother earth and
I can tell you that she’s mad at us!
[ Maurizio
Pustianaz - Chaindlk ]
-------------------------------------------------------------
Buco
senza fondo. Un inesplorato giardino dell'Eden, che nasconde un laghetto dall'inesplorato
abisso profondo. Quella parte di Noi che ci è impossibile conoscere. Il
Pozzo del Merro, auscultato con speciali microfoni che ne distinguano le differenti
tonalità. Una voragine nella roccia: il silenzio roboante nella più
estrema solitudine. Microfoni speciali hanno sondato non solo la parte superficiale
del lago, ma anche quella acquatica, situata fino a -310 metri sotto il livello
del mare. La specialità di questo disco di ambient claustrofobico-misantropo
non sta solo nell'efficacia comprovata da ripetuti ascolti, ma anche dall'autenticità
che accompagna la scoperta continua delle inarrivabili profondità di quello
che, fino a pochi anni fa, era creduto un pozzo senza fondo.
Esplorare gli
abissi naturali è un processo che funziona a due livelli; l'aiuto offerto
dalla naturalezza dei suoni genera non soltanto introspezione, ma volontà
di penetrare, scoprire ciò che giace nelle cavità recondite. E'
affascinante e, al contempo, inquietante, al di là del bene e del male.
Si avverte con progressiva intensità il naufragare sempre più in
fondo, il vorticizzarsi nell'autoanalisi, vertigine dell'ignoto. Dell'Io.
[
M. Monti/S. Moriconi
- Babylon magazine ]
Olhon
to wspólny projekt dwóch eksperymentatorów wloskiej szkoly
postindustrialnej, znanych odpowiednio jako Bad Sector oraz Where. Wydany przez
Spectre album jest trzecim z kolei w serii "Nautilus", prezentujacej
nagrania zwiazane z woda (pojawila sie juz czesc czwarta cyklu w postaci nowej
plyty kanadyjskiego Iszoloscope). Tym razem mamy do czynienia z nagraniami zarejestrowanymi
na dnie wloskich jezior umiejscowionych w kraterach wulkanicznych (informacje
na ich temat, lacznie ze zdjeciami zawiera digipack). W powyzszym celu uzyty zostal
specjalny sensor zamkniety w stalowej, wodoodpornej obudowie, polaczony z cyfrowym
urzadzeniem rejestrujacym i opuszczony na glebokosc okolo 200 metrów. Na
plycie nie umieszczono jednak czysto terenowych nagran. Dzwieki zarejestrowane
w jeziorach wulkanicznych zostaly zmiksowane w studiu celem uzyskania bardzo specyficznego
efektu, który wyróznia te plyte sposród wielu ambientowych
produkcji. Nie wnikajac w szczególy dodam, ze powstal material oryginalny,
pelen dziwnej atmosfery, o niezdefiniowanej glebi i niecodziennym brzmieniu. Kolejna
znakomita pozycja w arcyciekawej serii - Spectre po prostu sie nie myli.
[
Lewy
- Postindustry ]
-------------------------------------------------------------
Olhon
is no other than massimo magrini of bad sector fame, joining forces with zairo,
a part of italian audio project where. "veiovis" is a third release
in the nautilus series on spectre dedicated to nautical music themes. the source
material for this cd came from the recordings done in italian volcanic lakes using
hydrophonic sensors and later transformed and manipulated in the studio.
the
album is somewhat "lighter" than usual bad sector work, the sound is
more flowing, with softer elements reminding me of "u-boot" by ah cama-sotz
(second release in nautilus series). there is no hi-tech sampled sounds usually
employed by bad sector, instead there are waves and waves of cold minimal atmosphere,
slowly churning and rumbling among small uneasy noises, occasionally attacked
with harsh noisy outburst. the album never reaches density and diversity of bad
sector, but it never becomes boring or annoyingly minimal. granted, the sounds
used are somewhat limited, and the pace of the album is a lot slower that I would
have expected (maybe it is the influence of where), but altogether it is an album
that lives up to its conceptual nature and creates disturbing, haunting atmosphere,
not something one would usually expect from music dealing with aquatic themes.
my favorite tracks are those that combine strings and abrasive layered textures
on top of swelling sonic waves - closing 10-minute composition would be a perfect
example.
[ Anton -
Seven ]
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Schon
wiederholt inspirierte das Faszinosum submariner Flora und (vor allem) Fauna das
Schaffen bedeutender Klangkünstler; Verweise auf Francisco Lopez' „Azoic
Zone" sowie Werkbund sollen an dieser Stelle genügen. Doch Bad Sector
und Where wollen unter dem Projektnamen Olhon höher hinaus: Für diese
einem prä-römischen Gott, der für Erdbeben und Vulkane zuständig
ist, gewidmeten CD sammeltem sie Unterwasser-Fieldrecordings von 6 italienischen
Vulkanseen aus bis zu 200 m Tiefe.Dementsprechend deep, deep, deep klingt „Veiovis"
und schafft 7 namenlose Momentaufnahmen aus einer Welt, wo nur sehr selten Licht
hingelangt. Aber die im Mix eingebauten vermeintlichen Störgeräusche
vom Boot oder Berührungen des Mikros machen aus den Momentaufnahmen bizarre
Soundscapes mit ihren völlig eigenen Clicks und Pops.
[
i-wound
]
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Veiovis" for sure is an odd album. What makes it odd though, is not the way it actually
sounds, but rather how it was made. Obviously, the whole record is made entirely
out of sounds recorded underwater, in Italian lakes. Listening to the record,
this is not hard to imagine; it all sounds somewhat claustrophobic, dark and liquid.
However, the band have fortunately decided to remix these sounds and turn them
into something more pleasant and varied.
The
whole purpose of "Veiovis" seems to be to create an atmosphere and moods
that suit the sites the sounds were recorded in. In that, I would say that the
band have succeeded, but I do not know if that makes this release a lot more enjoyable.
Sure, it may be an effective way to convey the impressions and feelings of these
sites and the "pre-roman rituals" that took place there, of which the
cover informs. And it may even be an interesting experience to listen to the album
if you have got the patience. Chances are however, that this is not something
you will come back to. While I liked the idea of a record built solely from underwater
sounds, this does not help the album much in the end. Its low frequencies, muffled
buzzing and annoying scratching did not manage to keep me interested for more
than half of the record.
To
sum things up, this is a decent experimental release and it could probably satisfy
someone looking for some dark ambient to set a scary, epic and sometimes beautiful
mood. But as many other releases within the genre, it focuses a little bit too
much on just being experimental, instead of also trying to present something that
is not only interesting, but also enjoyable.
[
Klas
Molde - Moving Hands ]