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Samurai Music returns to the evocative sound world of Ancestral Voices for an album that splits the difference between cinematic sound design and deadly restraint at 170 BPM. 'Nemeton' continues Liam Blackburn's exploration of ancient Celtic mysticism through snaking rhythms and snarling sound design, conjuring a high-definition sonic image of sacred groves and the druids practicing amongst them. Blackburn's Ancestral Voices project tracks back to 2015, when he debuted on Samurai Horo with the 'Night of Visions' album. In stark contrast to his celebrated 140 work as Indigo, this project leaned on the inspiration of pagan spirituality to charge his vivid, advanced production style with a rich and mysterious atmosphere. While he's channeled this approach into a variety of tempos and styles, on his 2016 EP 'Old Earth Voodoo' on Samurai Music he applied the concept to a drum & bass framework, which he returns to on 'Nemeton' with rigorous focus. Far from a straightforward collection of breakbeat tracks, Blackburn uses negative space and pointillist production to carve out an immersive, tense sound world around the 170 grid. He takes a widescreen approach to percussion, running from pin-prick synthesized one-shots to tumbling, organic drums you'd more readily associate with a Hans Zimmer score. Scene-building is the foremost mission across 'Nemeton', casting otherworldly forces in sweeps of low-end friction and dramatic melodic blooms amidst tangible real-world field recordings of flora and fauna. Casting the mind back some 2,000 years is an exercise in imagination as much as research, and Blackburn ably summons dark fantasy as he delves ever deeper into Welsh mythology with a studious zeal and avid fascination. It's that drive that makes 'Nemeton' burst forth and take shape so powerfully, bristling with kinetic energy and a barely-concealed, strangely seductive menace that leaves a lasting impression long after the last snatch of bass has bared it's teeth. Tracklkisting: A1. Nemeton A2. A Heart of Oak B1. Annwn B2. Mists of Avalon C1. Arawn D1. Stanzas of the Graves D2. Keltia
Ancestral Voices