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A U R O R A

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With a tempest brewing in the distance, “Flex” expires with a sigh, washes of noise disperse as if dreamt and an ephemeral trickle of water flows somewhere in the background. They shimmer and float above a formidable rhythm section, which sounds like Frost's older work but fired up with newfound conviction.

He’s been a very busy man ever since, producing albums for The Swans and Tim Hecker, soundtracks for films, writing an opera, as well as collaborations in art and modern dance. Collaborators Greg Fox, Shahzad Isamily and Thor Harris (of Swans fame) reinforce A U R O R A's computer sheen with real sweat and blood. The cold on this CD (though probably falsely felt a bit because of his surname being Frost) permeates the fact that it's a summertime in Florida, and I don't think I've ever been so eager for an album of this kind to do to me what it does. That feeling of distance coincides with the facts of A U R O R A’s creation: Frost wrote most of the collection on a laptop while working with photographer/filmmaker Richard Mosse in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Predominantly written in DR Congo and performed by Frost, Greg Fox (ex- Liturgy), Shahzad Ismaily and rhythmic overlord, Thor Harris of Swans, the release was birthed from self-induced isolation and a collective desire to excavate inherent truths of nature and being; submitting to swathes of noise with the implicit aim to evoke an altogether transient moment of lucidity.It’s a much more physical album, largely dispensing with quieter, more delicate compositions in favor of those that seethe and erupt. Fittingly, it’s this final track, and not the pyrotechnics of 'Venter' or 'Nolan', which sounds most savage: it’s the untamed, unleashed and explosive finale, as Frost unleashes every musical sinew and leaves the speakers quivering. Mosse and cinematographer Trevor Tweeten, in turn, made a series of grainy films—explosions, volcanoes, bullets through bodies—as a rollout to A U R O R A, as well as the album’s cover art). There is definitely something of the acid drenched fields of the home counties in the Nineties about much of A U R O R A, perhaps stemming from its cathedral-like sense of space. YouTube sets this cookie to measure bandwidth, determining whether the user gets the new or old player interface.

Many, such as ‘Nolan’, with its colossal rave synths and blistering distortion, have an epic, widescreen feel, which Frost offsets with intricate detail and quiet, ominous passages.Diphenyl Oxalate” once had a melody, but it’s been mauled and eviscerated until only a wall of discord is left. Where By The Throat stalked unobserved - a malevolent spectre that lingered constantly out of shot - A U R O R A immediately surges into sharp focus, the prologue-like “Flex” bursting free from the shackles a vengeful, almost incandescent beast. Normal ambient that has spoken word or field recordings overneath it, and the subject matter gets a bit vulgar? If anything the only real downfall of this album is the slight lack of cohesion as compared to Ben Frost's earlier works, but it's still a must listen for anyone looking into dark ambient or experimental music, and a welcome addition for previous Ben Frost fans. This is no pristine vision of digital music, it is a filthy, uncivilized offering of interrupted future time where emergency flares illuminate ruined nightclubs and the faith of the dancefloor rests in a diesel-powered generator spewing forth its own extinction, eating rancid fuel so loudly it threatens to overrun the very music it is powering.

A U R O R A, Ben Frost’s fourth album and first to be released on Mute, is — if anything — even more intense than the menacing masterpiece that preceded it. For all this, his music is equally fascinating when you strip away the context and simply let the sounds he’s making overtake you. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. I put this on while plodding through a snowstorm in Baltimore one day, and am now convinced that that is the only appropriate context in which to hear such a brutal, unforgiving record.That usually happens to me about two-thirds of the way through this album (on the relatively-dull "Sola Fide"). Sola Fide' might lurch and shudder like a ripped up By the Throat session, but underneath its squalling appearance lurks a simmering roller of a bass-line, hinting at the kind of chaos that’s being conjured up by Untold of late, amongst others. In this mode, he fits in line with producers like Container, Sandwell District, Demdike Stare, and Vatican Shadow, but he never stays in one place, and the album is filled with variety and a great sense of dynamics. Despite its scattered creation, I tend to listen to A U R O R A as one long piece, letting the different modes congeal into a whole.

It’s album art depicts a man cowering behind a pack of wolves in a heavy flurry of snow, illuminated by the glow of a truck’s headlights. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Unlike his past work, there are no guitars, piano, or stringed instruments; instead, the 41-minute collection focuses on synthesizers and the heavy percussion of ex-Liturgy drummer and current Guardian Alien leader Greg Fox and Swans’ Thorr Harris. Frost's work has an insanely visceral streak that allows individual tracks to work as short bursts, but his compositions really shine when given a chance to expand, to grow and transform from violent drones to complex latticework of tribal rhythm and vitriolic synths that skirt the very furthest edges of melody.In addition to the much heavier use of percussion on the album, what separates A U R O R A from Frost’s prior work lies heavily in how much it grooves. Where Tim Hecker's Virgins (which Frost had a hand in) saw him home in on the power of live instrumentation, A U R O R A does just the opposite.

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