Various Artists - 15 Shades Of White

Spring has finally arrived to melt all the ice with its warm breath after a long, cold winter. Though there are still enough places for a light melancholia to hug my heart with its chilly arms, adding a certain portion of sadness into the cocktail of senses which are waking up after a winter sleep. As for me, the new compilation from Moscow based Dronarivm Records becomes a perfect soundtrack for such a period when snowy planes are still not far away reminding about long windy nights and frozen days painted with "Fifteen Shades of White". Ambience has no boundaries when a group of talented artists join forces to create a seventy minute long requiem for their dreams and illusions recalculated, reevaluated, rebuilt with a winter perspective.

And here I am, laying lonely, exhausted and devastated, catching blinks of light seeping through the ice-covered window, ready to sink into the sea of sadness and sorrow. My hand is just few centimeters away from the CD player but each movement demands enormous energy consumption, blood transforms into liquid nitrogen, all electric impulses from my brain are just stuck somewhere in between without reaching their destination inside my body. Somehow I reach a play button and start to gaze at the ceiling of my room concentrating on delicate half-tones.

White color has different shades during winter time but all of them are bound together by a stitch of neoclassical atmosphere in this compilation. Most of the compositions are quite minimalistic in their instrumentation though they are really deep in every element of their performance. And it doesn't matter if it is a symbiosis between dramatic piano and sobering violin like in "Closing In" by Australian residents Sophie Hutchings and Peter Hollo, or it is a gentle guitar passages with some scratchy special effect like in "Etude V" by UK based Talvihorrors; all of them hold their hands tight to create a very special atmosphere. There are no specific highs or lows in this record, all the tracks are chosen to create a slow, melancholic drift, keeping hypnotizing ambience in a constant charge. Soft piano passages receive a back up by a "time-like" ticking effect in "Temperance" by Kreng, and after that they evolve into "Vega" which is dancing slowly guided by a violin based melody, circling together with weightless snowflakes.

The music stays in constant interaction with the listener, appealing to his basic senses, rising hidden memories, creating a really intimate connection. Jacaszek gains a strong meditative element in his composition under the code name "III" in which a beautiful vocal session fits perfectly to carry my spirit far away with a soft piano & violin collaboration. Bleak, hopeless, Marsen Jules adds his shade of white when his track "Endymionr's Sleep" seems choked with despair and claustrophobic without a ray of sunshine.

Though, there should always be a place for some rest even during the hardest winter times and Orla Wren brings in the exact moment to take a deep breath with, presenting his composition "Fibres and Threads". Sunny but still cold morning fills the room with extremely bright shades when it seems that the air becomes thin and brittle like a sheet of glass dancing by the will of a skillful glassblower. A string driven melody combines both violin and organ passages together with some soft field recordings and electronic clicks and ticks.

But the wild winter is much stronger showing that it was only a short break before the real frost conquers vast planes again. Kaboom Karavan and Marcus Fjellstrom help the story to get back on trail of frozen planes. Oh, it's time to admire the beauty of the white blanket of snow and the crystalline icicles that hang off the roof eaves like dragon's teeth. Strie helps them by adding a certain portion of mystery as well, entering caves full of milky-white mist. The music becomes almost static with an extremely slow piano melody while a cold white winter sun hardly pierces a heavy veil of clouds being unable to warm up the soil. The same mood continues to flow out of my speakers through the track "Hard Frost Fields" by The Frozen Vaults in which violin, guitar, cello and piano play hide and seek between deep snowdrifts. Strings gradually emerge in "Chiral", as if from a mist, and begin to roll in slow-moving waves of grief. This very simple music packs a powerful wallop of sorrow. At only five minutes in length, it seems to stretch on forever...

There are no words left anymore after finishing the journey painted in fifteen shades of white. Being around for only two years, it was enough for Dronarivm to establish itself as one of the strongest forces at the scene of deep ambient tunes and a successful selection of the compositions for this compilation is a living proof for my words. Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure, this Russian resident has more to offer in the future and I will wait patiently for his upcoming releases. However, let me bid you good-bye because I have to continue my personal exploration...

Just press a play button again...

and dissolve...
Jun 02 2014