Sonomu
Stephen Fruitman | February 05, 2009
Wherein the very acoustics of the cathedral of St. Peter in Bremen are as important as the instruments being played.
Evgeny Voronovski has been purveying dark ambient for more than a decade now under the nom-de-musique Cisfinitum. He may well be the only ambient artist with a nationalist intent to his music. According to the artist, "Cisfinitum is the sound of eternity. I've always wanted to create the music of Russian cosmos, music capable of expressing information about Russia that is impossible to reveal by means of words. They call this 'drone' overseas, but I prefer to define it 'metaphysical ambient'". Ironic - or ecumenical of him - that the venue for creating this piece is a Roman Catholic church.
Tactio was recorded live in front of a spellbound audience (you haven't a clue they are there until the outburst of applause after the final note has long died away), featuring the artist on electronics, "baroque violin" - apparently his Conservatory axe, though hidden well in the mix and treatments - and of course church bells - the cathedral's own, I suppose; bringing them on your sampler would be a bit coals to Newcastle, wouldn't it?
From beginning to end, Cisfinitum maintains a foundation of thick, heavy but variable drone over which play a carillon of bells and, of even more import to the final results, the echoing of the bells, which his electronics suck in and whisper back out, creating great braids of both real-time and instantly-recorded playback. A moment of almost puerile clarity is arrived at as the second of the six long tracks resolves itself into a simple three-note bell melody, but this proves only to be the coda to one drone and segue into the next, in which Cisfinitum conjures up a grand cloud of white noise with which to obliterate the bells.
Tactio's drones and soundscapes are well composed, sometimes straining toward the sky, mostly rumbling down along the surface, but its foremost accomplishment is when the artist literally works the room, sending his sounds around the cavernous old church and manipulating what it sends back to him.
