Uhushuhu - Long Songs Pleasant For Hearing

Between shadows of secular trees, behind the bushes wide spread, washed by a soft water of spring rains, lies a small glade, well hidden from the eyes of officious humans. There is a beautiful flower in the middle of the glade; Adonis is its name, grown by the warmth of a tender sun. Vast forests protect it from all harm, from any possible damage or intervention. A huge owl guards its sleep, salamander from the nearby pool sings it lullabies, carrying about its eternal blossom. Everything around is bound in harmony, creating an eternal circle of life, living on, existing by indestructible laws.

"Uhushuhuuuuuuuuuu",- the owl shouts commanding trees and bushes, mushrooms and flowers, springs and pools, animals and insects to join in a spellbinding dance of nature. The stream of time is different here, there is nowhere to rush, and there is no plan or schedule to meet; tranquility and conciliation are key words to exploit. Russian based musicians that bring to our consideration their three "Long Songs Pleasant for Hearing" prone to obey this call as well and try to describe the natural macrocosm by connecting three habitats - "Surface", "Underwater" and "Underground". And what can be a better tool to tell such a story rather than a circularity of drone ambient music.

The album opens with the "Surface", a long composition of 24 minutes run where the listener sinks inside a constant progressive loop. A picture drawn by the artist reminds me of colorful fractals of a kaleidoscope; they roll over and over again creating intricate visions having a highly hypnotic influence. After listening to this track for a dozen of times I start to distinguish few sub-loops while the music becomes more and more complex within each of them. Furthermore, each of them has its own set of special effects, whether those are different cracks and clicks or some kind of background rustle, electronic pulses or soft echoed voices, all of them create unforgettable patterns. A gentle percussive beat guides the main melody with a constant tempo during the whole running time inserting a bit of a tribal atmosphere, an atmosphere of a ritualistic worshiping of Mother Nature. Bit by bit, the colors become denser, become saturated with strength from the roots of centennial trees, with a bitter taste of a fertile soil, with a solar energy of beneficial sun. Myriads of insects and birds fill the air with their laudatory songs enjoying ambrosial blossoming of the mighty Adonis.

A transition between the "Surface" and the "Underwater" is very smooth and the effect brought by this composition definitely matches with its name. The atmosphere becomes a little bit darker; the half-tones transform into turquoise and light blue colors corresponding with a diving into refreshing waters of a river or a lake. Different underwater dwellers scurry around creating small vortexes, playing with scattered blinks of light. Another loop based melody circulates over and over again enveloping a bodiless spirit of mine by its meditative canvas.

If you are still alive and survived two previous tracks without immersing into nothingness, this is the right moment to experience an "Underground" journey as well. The drone becomes much denser and monotonous operating with tensions more than with diversity of sound. A buzzing effect pierces through the whole track creating some kind of an energy flow effect, like its millions of energy streams flow through the soil distributing a "life source" between all the creatures upside. Slow and steady the track fades away but the listener stays hypnotized until the very last second.

77 copies of "Longs Songs Pleasant for Hearing" were pressed and I believe that it is far from being enough. Even when the music is not as polished as the creations of Steve Roach or professionally constructed like I am used to hear from Troum, the sound of this record is clean and sincere in its own way. There are few moments in which the loops and drones were too overextended, but the spirits of nature, water and soil drove the atmosphere forward. Their voices are very strong in each of us who explore the colorful world of ambient music. Therefore, I suggest you to start hugging trees around, listen to the tunes of Uhushuhu and join the army of the great OWL. I will meet you on the other side.
Jun 11 2014