Eremos

Siavash Amini is an Iranian composer and sound designer with an extensive catalog of releases for labels like Room40 and Opal Tapes. His haunting drones and audacious electro-acoustic pieces blur natural and synthetic sound sources, creating expansive meditations on the environment, space, and emptiness. Eremos, released by American Dreams Records in 2023, was inspired by philosopher Ibn Sinas novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, and is meant to evoke an introspective journey through darkness. His pieces are finely detailed, making it necessary to listen closely and turn the volume up, then become drawn in as the intensity increases and the dynamics suddenly shift. This first happens in opening piece "Wayward," as hissing static and glassy drone build up before cutting to dead stillness. A chiming melody briefly emerges, then becomes consumed by churning bass and twisted vibrations. "The Darkness About the Pole" begins with a crackling drizzle and rapid, floating percussive patterns, and after nearly getting drowned in a storm, it slowly finds its way into the light, resulting in one of the albums most mesmerizing sections. The two-part "A Desert of Immobile Winds" feels much more isolated, and even frightful. Extended washes of mirroring cymbals culminate in chattering movements and burst-into-flames noise, then after a quiet, ghostly passage, the unsteady vibrations return. Sparkling bells lead into abrasive, glitchy electronics, then a splendid waterfall rush of stretched distortion flows outward. Eremos is a surprising, mysterious work that reaches untold inner depths. ~ Paul Simpson