Arktau Eos - Ai Ma Ra

Arktau Eos is a Finnish duo comprised of members Antti Haapapuro and Antti Litmanen who, in the simplest of terms, create ambient/experimental music. Often times, and perhaps more appropriately, it is referred to as ritual music. Antti Haapapuro also presides over Aural Hypnox and plays a role in many of the bands (Halo Manash, Aural Holograms, etc.) found on the label. As someone who followed the label briefly in it's infancy, I had a slight idea as to what to expect on this two-disc, 105 minute opus but those ideas went right out the window once I hit “play.”

I usually find noise/experimental/ambient/etc., to be a personal listening experience and to be taken as such. A sum of past purchases in this genre of music have either been good at inspiring my thoughts or have fallen flat. Ai Ma Ra on the other hand, has opened a whole new world never even dreamed of. Strong words, sure, but there's something about this album that just consumed me, made me pay attention and more importantly, just let go.

It would be easy to tag Arktau Eos' music as dark or even cold but there's much more to their music. While it seems the band sticks to one paradigm throughout, each track invokes a different feeling, thought or reflection brought about through the various assortment of instruments and compositions. To describe Ai Ma Ra seems impossible as it's a very unique album. It's: bright, dark, expansive, cold, joyous, quiet, loud, deranged, soothing. Or, perhaps these are the feelings I took from the album what another listener might take away could be quite different.

Drenched with reverb and the natural sustain of the instruments, the album sounds as if it were recorded in a vast, expansive cave devoid of any natural light. This decay adds a haunting yet celestial presence. Throughout many of the tracks, there's a constant ebb and flow of sub-harmonics and instruments which clash and blend with each other creating a droney, meditative feel. Using mainly acoustic instruments, the sounds are rich, warm and earthy in tone. The production is amongst the best I have heard in quite some time and is so exceptional that one would have a hard time believing that the entire second disc was culled from live performances. The bass is frightening and the highs are radiant. Breathing and hand movement on the instruments is apparent. Overall, it's a very organic experience. If there were one album that were desperately in need of a vinyl edition, it would be Ai Ma Ra. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would sound like on vinyl, but I digress.

In keeping with the unique nature of the music, the packaging of the album is unique as well. Ai Ma Ra comes in a thick, green card stock, A5 size package with a hand-stamped front cover and inner sleeve. Inside is an 8-page booklet and a token talisman card and both discs in individual black sleeves. The paper used for the booklet and talisman card is of exceptional quality and has a nice organic texture to it. There is only 1,000 examples of this exquisite album and it comes highly recommended.

[chrisALPINO]

type: reviews    keywords: ambient, noise, lhp039, finland, experimental,   

• 32 comments

  

  Invisible Oranges

  8:43 PM on Jun 27, 2010 // reply »
  
  I had no idea this act existed. The Dolorian connection is too good to pass up. I gotta check this out. Thanks for the post!

 

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