DEEP IN THE ECUMENE

After some more metal oriented albums, Senmuth is back to dark ambient with this "Deep In Ecumene". Ecumene is from a Greek word (title of the last track) and is usually intended as the liveable part of Earth. (In greek: to dwell).

The dark ambient includes as usual some ethnic elements. "Lost In Canyon" has a lazy rhythm made by percussion and some sitar-like sounds, but is guitar driven. Next is "Clochan An Aifir" also known as the Giants Causeway. Don't expect anything celtic apart of a sound similar to a harp. It's a good ambient track, not as dark as usual.

Egypt can not be missed, but Nabta Playa is a very impressive place: imagine a Stonehenge placed in the middle of the desert, some 800Km south from Cairo. Egyptian things are usually darker with Senmuth. This is not different. The electronics have some disco influence but this is not unusual with this project. Anyway the guitar seems to be the dominant instrument in this album.

"Corinth Sundown" is a nice title. If you search the web there's a Sundown ranch in Corinth, Texas,but it's not what this track is about. Corinth was one of the most important Greek cities of the classical age, today famous for its channel. The music is stil dark with a slow tempo and a bunch of electronics to support the guitar.

Typical of South and Central America are the "Tepuis", mountains with a flat head. The "Roraima" is in Venezuela. An impressive landscape which opens to three different nations as it's on the border with Brasil and Guyana. Try tomake justice to this slow ambient track, quite repetitive, by watching at photos of this mountain. It's nice as this music is able to transmit the sense of maestosity of the weird and open landscapes. It's a pity that images can't be pasted on reviews.

On the other side of the world, the Naigu stone forest is in China and the ethnic instruments like I think a Japanese Shakuyaky, make it clear. It's a fusion of the usual dark ambient with Oriental sounds.

The last place to visit in in the Indian Ocean, southwest to Yemen. Socotra is part of an archipelagous of four islands and is full of legends. One says that local sorcerers were able to make the whole island invisible. The music is evocative of secret rituals and sorcery and this is the best album's track IMO.

Sitar opens the last track which should summarize the album's subjects. It's the only track which have some of the sudden pitch changes that I dislike most in Senmuth's music, the only one with some metal elements but also with some operatic vocals. It has the ethnic interludes, but all those things are in some way mitigated and the effect is still of a dark ambient track. It deserves some attantion.

I like the ambient side of Senmuth. I'm approaching all his albums sequentially and up to this album I can say that this is his best release of 2012.