Genre : Ambient/Electronic
Year : 2010
Label : Glacial Movements
“Mike (Remote_) said to me once early on that this scene is a tough place for someone who wears their heart on their sleeve. He's right. I found that out the hard way long ago. But all you can do is continue on in the way you think is right, and hope that you make a positive mark on the world. Remaining personal will never be difficult for me, because it's all I know. And I wouldn't trade that for all the notoriety or success in the world”, these heartfelt words which epitomize the essence of music in our lives as a purveyor and dissolution of emotions and feelings which can’t be shaken off easily expressed the veneration of Brock Van Wey for the deeply personal music he was creating and appreciating in an interview for Resident Advisor. Brock Van Wey a.k.a. Bvdub has been creating quintessential, soul stirring, emotionally purging, haunting and lustrously tantalising music right from his techno releases (2008’s synth sybaritic No Turning Back EP being an example) to the last year’s phosphorescent glow of ‘White Cloud Drift On and On’ which combined the imputes of Gas, spirituality and African chants and flush-seamed it to create a feathery and fluffy texture that granted emotional comfort to the melancholia and pleasure that knew no bounds; it’s the sort of music where you can feel his heartbeat through the substance of it. ‘White clouds Drift On And On’, which was a reflection of the struggles he had with the rave scene that had got commercialised and that had been stripped off its purity right in front of his eyes and the consequent journey of leaving it all behind to lead a life of solitude in China and coming to terms with it all, had this quality of self redemption and exploration of pain and time as a healer. This ulterior motive is also the basis of this new overwhelming and compelling record ‘The Art Of Dying Alone’.
The record’s impressionistic qualities are emblazoned in the resplendent cover art which depicts a cosy wooden house besides a lake in a picturesque, cloudy and snow capped terrain. It signifies seclusion, but, in a positive way; its recuperation and revitalisation from the mental stress and trauma; to discover the beauty within and without and the divinity of nature and to divert ones mind towards more peaceful thoughts and ideas. When you lack any support and life gets at you in a really big way and abruptly halts the flow, after a period of mourning you reach a depressing state in which you think, now that you have already fallen to such a low level, you can’t fall below this one, it’s time to take control of the situation, accept the fate, work for a brighter future, the only direction to proceed towards is upwards now. But, when this happens you become a changed person and are weary of the things and people that made you unhappy; so, in a way you are back again in the company of people around you, but, there is a bigger purpose to enrich life and you are on your own for that – the purpose of getting back on feet, finding happiness in things that you love to do and having a strong foothold so that you don’t have to suffer again. The wounds have been healed but the scars remain and they efface only with death and therein comes ‘The Art Of Dying Alone’. This record exactly echoes such a feeling and as one progresses towards the end, there is a transition in the mood of the album from the melancholic album opener to the climaxing ‘No More Reasons No To Fall’ to the sorrowful album closer when the dust finally settles down (which is also clear from the name of the tracks such as ‘Descent To The End’, ‘Nothing From No One’, ‘No More Reasons To Not Fall’ and ‘No One Will Ever Find You Here’).
To portray the pain, the anger, the suffering, the sadness and the withering Brock uses a variety of instruments ranging from strings to pianos to acoustic guitars and intertwines them with guitar drones to create expansive sonic textures akin to that perfected by Marsen Jules and Brian Eno; very shoegaze like and unruffled. Seraphic voices grace with their presence in the plush, chilly, dense, windy and desolate settings and add to the instrumental rumination. Beginning this journey of self deprivation, deprecation and salvation, ‘Descent To The End’ represents a devastated and pessimistic outlook; the sudden surge of feelings and emotions are entrapped in the looped, elegiac, surging and billowing drones; the trudging and heavy handed guitar strums that are exhausted and overcome by this surge are introduced as they diffuse a portentous tension into the protracted, layered, distant sounding and buried guitar drones that furl and unfurl in the almost cyclonic environs of the track. ‘Nothing From No One’ submerges oneself in an abandoned utopia; voiceless field recordings (probably from a small cafeteria or a kitchen) merge into genteel piano chimes that get stuck in an endless loop as if one is stuck in a moment, unable to comprehend and thoroughly analyze and inert to the purlieu; the opulent, stunning and luxe somniferous drones interlaced by the drawn out soaring husky voices are the only rescuers from this baffling emptiness and distraught. Hinting that the distended paranoia is phasing out, the twenty one minute long track ‘To Finally Forget It All’, provides a slightly consoling atmosphere of faraway crackling noises and echoing synths; warm pulsating guitar chords and throbbing sub-bass slowly dissolve the unease in the jetting heavenly and aeriform voices that are looped and textured to create a soundscape reminiscent of Brian Eno’s ‘Music For Airports’. Bursting with joy and exuding unwound bliss, ‘No More Reasons Not To Fall’, is a sign of reverting the path of self-depreciation; the gladdened, anodyne and mellisonant female vocals that playfully sing ‘Na na na...’ in tune with the gorgeously constructed sonic terrain of bubbling, rollicking and shimmering guitar chords, the occasional snipped tide of harmonious violins and the upsurge of shuffled piano notes strengthens and invigorates the soul. At around the fifth minute, the same heaven embracing guitar drones arrive to paint the ambiance in spotless white and elevate the listener amongst the cotton like clouds and the birds. ‘No One Will Ever find You Here’ with the looped breathy female vocals, sombre guitar chords and the whitewashed ambiance is the realisation that one is still alone in this struggle and harbours feelings of doubt and insecurity and fear of the demise of the dreams. Welcoming the listener to the heavenly abode for the final time, in the album closer ‘The Art Of Dying Alone’, death the great leveller heals all the scars and puts to rest any emotional and physical conflicts and doubts in the with-time healing mid-pitch female vocals and alien looped intonations, the lugubrious pads, string arrangements and guitar chords and the engulfing gargantuan drones. All the tracks fit so well in this jig-saw puzzle it is hard to imagine the tracks without this fluidity and contagious congruity to be moved apart.
‘The Art Of Dying Alone’ befittingly captures a muse that Brock is devoted to – his life and his struggles; things that build and strengthen him. His experiences are encapsulated and in these tracks as he tries to deftly send the message across. Stylistically it is closer to the work done by Slowdive drummer Simon Scott and Tim Hecker; the personal touch, the small details and his musical prowess enhance the listening experience. This is a record that you may not only be smitten because of the ambiance but also the emotional weight attached to it; a recommended and a well executed record.
Rating : 8.5/10
Glimpse of his earlier stunning work :
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