heathenharvest 碟评
Buried in the North – Buried in the North
http://heathenharvest.org/2013/02/02/buried-in-the-north-buried-in-the-north/
Those of you who have been pining for the likes of Stoa and Dargaard to get on with it and up their output should consider turning further East. Buried in the North, a more or less unknown project from China, is the sole enterprise of Li Qi whose debut was released on the excellent Beijing label Dying Art last year. Music in the neoclassical and ethereal vein which invokes the same kind of dark, introspective reveries made by the likes of those projects mentioned has been seriously lacking in recent years, and it would be unfair to say that Buried in the North doesn’t seem to borrow extensively from their ethos. Where BITN differs is through existing as a purely instrumental project being mostly piano-based with some samplings of guitars strewn about occasionally. There is something particularly lonely about the sound to this album: its cause doesn’t seem to be to conjure a positive dream or fairylike wonderland that we’re used to hearing from labels like Prikosnovenie: Dying Art has always carried a more sinister feel to its albums, and BITN is no different. There is certainly something beautiful to the music contained herein, but it’s enshrouded with a feeling of loss and solitude beyond hope or intent.
And this feeling of bleakness is nicely captured in the album’s artwork. A plain white sleeve with the band logo is all that the front of the case includes whereas inside, an Eastern-style castle atop a mountain is painted in monochrome watercolours. A minute figure stands on the shore looking at the mountain ahead as if in contemplation of a journey begun or ended, one which we as listeners can very well join or indulge in through experiencing the 36 minutes of this album. The idea of featuring a lone figure in the art, dauntingly overshadowed by this creation of man and nature links nicely with the feel of solitude that the album creates, as if there exists a mountain of loneliness which is similarly unscalable and unconquerable, this debut being the soundtrack to one man’s experiences of it. Of course, such romantic associations could easily be dismissed as fantasy, but on listening to the record, there’s no doubt of the feelings contained within, though their cause could forever be open to interpretation.
In spite of the fact that BITN comes from China, there’s not too much of an traditional Eastern feel to the music, certainly not as much as befits the likes of Gol Dolan or Zuriaake. BITN has more of a neutral Westernised feel to it with songs such as the excellent Druids’ Warning being the best on the album and The Old Tales Bards Sang conveying a slightly dark medieval essence particularly well. By far the greatest surprise on the album is Abyss which starts off as an ethereal piece before breaking out the guitar distortion and transforming into an instrumental metal number, and one which is quite fitting to the album’s feel, not out of place at all amongst the rest of the tracks. Things do tend to lighten up towards the end with Pureland and especially Peace Is The End being the least dark tracks, the latter being particularly bright and uplifting in comparison to what has preceded it.
Things certainly do feel a little amateurish at times though: BITN occasionally slips on the polish and sheen that veneers most of the album such as in And Farewell where a slightly out of tune violin could have easily been rectified or removed, as well as the choice of one or two improvable organ effects at times. But such complaints are generally fleeting since the rest of the album deserves high praise for its content and is successful at transmitting an atmosphere of tragic solitude, at times invoking similar feelings to Artemis’ Asphodel album released ten years ago. Buried in the North is an admirable debut from the Far East and a worthy edition to this darker style of ethereal neoclassical which should be followed by all fanatics treading and monitoring this terribly underproduced genre. At this time of year, with Imbolc setting in and with blanched whiteness all around, it could hardly feel more fitting.
Tracklisting:
01. Galatia
02. Air of Homeland
03. Druids’ Warning
04. Abyss
05. …And Farewell
06. The Old Tales Bards Tell
07. Pureland
08. Otherworld
09. Peace Is The End
Rating: 4/5
Written by Lysander
Dying Art records
Ethereal / Neoclassical
http://heathenharvest.org/2013/02/02/buried-in-the-north-buried-in-the-north/
Those of you who have been pining for the likes of Stoa and Dargaard to get on with it and up their output should consider turning further East. Buried in the North, a more or less unknown project from China, is the sole enterprise of Li Qi whose debut was released on the excellent Beijing label Dying Art last year. Music in the neoclassical and ethereal vein which invokes the same kind of dark, introspective reveries made by the likes of those projects mentioned has been seriously lacking in recent years, and it would be unfair to say that Buried in the North doesn’t seem to borrow extensively from their ethos. Where BITN differs is through existing as a purely instrumental project being mostly piano-based with some samplings of guitars strewn about occasionally. There is something particularly lonely about the sound to this album: its cause doesn’t seem to be to conjure a positive dream or fairylike wonderland that we’re used to hearing from labels like Prikosnovenie: Dying Art has always carried a more sinister feel to its albums, and BITN is no different. There is certainly something beautiful to the music contained herein, but it’s enshrouded with a feeling of loss and solitude beyond hope or intent.
And this feeling of bleakness is nicely captured in the album’s artwork. A plain white sleeve with the band logo is all that the front of the case includes whereas inside, an Eastern-style castle atop a mountain is painted in monochrome watercolours. A minute figure stands on the shore looking at the mountain ahead as if in contemplation of a journey begun or ended, one which we as listeners can very well join or indulge in through experiencing the 36 minutes of this album. The idea of featuring a lone figure in the art, dauntingly overshadowed by this creation of man and nature links nicely with the feel of solitude that the album creates, as if there exists a mountain of loneliness which is similarly unscalable and unconquerable, this debut being the soundtrack to one man’s experiences of it. Of course, such romantic associations could easily be dismissed as fantasy, but on listening to the record, there’s no doubt of the feelings contained within, though their cause could forever be open to interpretation.
In spite of the fact that BITN comes from China, there’s not too much of an traditional Eastern feel to the music, certainly not as much as befits the likes of Gol Dolan or Zuriaake. BITN has more of a neutral Westernised feel to it with songs such as the excellent Druids’ Warning being the best on the album and The Old Tales Bards Sang conveying a slightly dark medieval essence particularly well. By far the greatest surprise on the album is Abyss which starts off as an ethereal piece before breaking out the guitar distortion and transforming into an instrumental metal number, and one which is quite fitting to the album’s feel, not out of place at all amongst the rest of the tracks. Things do tend to lighten up towards the end with Pureland and especially Peace Is The End being the least dark tracks, the latter being particularly bright and uplifting in comparison to what has preceded it.
Things certainly do feel a little amateurish at times though: BITN occasionally slips on the polish and sheen that veneers most of the album such as in And Farewell where a slightly out of tune violin could have easily been rectified or removed, as well as the choice of one or two improvable organ effects at times. But such complaints are generally fleeting since the rest of the album deserves high praise for its content and is successful at transmitting an atmosphere of tragic solitude, at times invoking similar feelings to Artemis’ Asphodel album released ten years ago. Buried in the North is an admirable debut from the Far East and a worthy edition to this darker style of ethereal neoclassical which should be followed by all fanatics treading and monitoring this terribly underproduced genre. At this time of year, with Imbolc setting in and with blanched whiteness all around, it could hardly feel more fitting.
Tracklisting:
01. Galatia
02. Air of Homeland
03. Druids’ Warning
04. Abyss
05. …And Farewell
06. The Old Tales Bards Tell
07. Pureland
08. Otherworld
09. Peace Is The End
Rating: 4/5
Written by Lysander
Dying Art records
Ethereal / Neoclassical
- 表演者: Buried in The North
- 发行时间: 2012-03
- 流派: 轻音乐
- 出版者: dying art productions
- 专辑类型: 专辑