Broken Harbour - Broken Harbour

Dark ambient have never been a genre where a lot of things happens. There were some years with a stable activity of the famous bands and formations, but it always was some kind of niche of industrial music for personal listening, where one could explore the inner world and sink into the depth of thoughts. Today it is not much happening at the specific scene, I can hardly count a dozen good albums that were out there during last two years. And of course there are really few newcomers, which dare to explore the world of abstractions. The complexity and the subjective form of feelings that are projected into this type of music, frequently withhold people from diving into processing it. But there are few guys here and there around the globe that are not scared of challenges, concealed inside dark ambient, and step eagerly to bring us the delights of the genre. I received recently two CD's from such a person, located somewhere in cold and frozen Canada, whose name is Blake and his project's name - Broken Harbour.

The music based mostly on a droning melody, and that element follows the album all the way. Distant waving sound welcomes me as I enter the void of Broken Harbour with the first track under the name "Beauty of Desolation p.1". The vision of dark plumbum sea grows stronger and stronger, as the waves wash a dead shore. Gloomy atmosphere drives me into the sonic landscape of dead and deserted world, supported by a deep hum of the wind, sweeping remainders of long gone civilization. Second track opens its gates with a totally depressing and slow piano melody, which adds a thickness and width to the overall feeling. The effect of an old vinyl scratches is added to strengthen the impression of decadence and decay. As the album moves forward, I came towards the third and in my opinion the best track of the album, in which some spoken samples are supported by sad atmospheric tunes to create a cosmic atmosphere of loss and sorrow. Two following tracks doesn't explore anything different from the previous, though in the last track, called "Monolith", some heavy machinery effects are added to bring a little bit diversity and strengthen more heavy ambience.

In general, not much happens inside the music, which is built with looping minimalistic sound. The structure can be better described not as ambient music, but a music ambience, more suitable for some kind of meditation during chilly Canadian winters. As soon as most tracks are very long, few of them seem to be overextended, and that fact makes them a little bit boring after 10-12 minutes of their run because of that looping concept. Here and there the effect of an old vinyl is added, which makes the album a little bit different from what I've heard before. But still, the feeling of deja vu presents during the entire album, when the memories of Lustmord, Oophoi and others are refreshed while listening to it. Though, Broken Harbour doesn't present anything new to the scene, he has a strong potential to become a member in the pantheon of the bands that bring delights for many years to the genre called dark ambient. Oct 24 2011