Music Review #4: Acedia by Plainastralchurch

Acedia is the new album from Plainastralchurch and contains fourteen instrumental tracks. Acedia One, the first track, starts off fairly quite and is on the surface seemingly minimalist although there is more going on than is obvious on first listening. This gentle start is abruptly changed in track two, Acedia Two, which is louder and far more experimental. It is also short at 1:46 minutes. It's not an unpleasant change. Track three, Theme from The Pit, is a much creepier affair and has a tenseness to it which would perfectly accompany a horror film. From track four, Belief, onward the album get progressively harsher in tone and the distortion ramps up. Lemures, Fading Voices which starts by flicking through various radio stations, Fallen Humanity One and Time and Tide One continue this trend. Fallen Humanity Two is also harsh but feels darker than the proceeding tracks with bangs and metallic crashes and primeval growls and feels like music for a ritual. At times during this track we have pure harsh noise. Time and Tide Two starts harshly but suddenly changes into a beat track but the harsh chaos threatens to consume the beats periodically until, finally, it does. Time and Tide Three is a beat track, albeit a bit distorted with effects bubbling away in the background. Throes is a sequencer track but like the proceeding pieces is distorted but not as much as before. Voiceless Speech (Regret) reminds me of an old melody only played through a dilapidated tannoy system. It has a slightly melancholy feel to it. Music from a lost time which we are only hearing a distorted version of. The End of Acedia is also slightly less distorted than previous tracks and is a pleasing piece to finish the album.

I really enjoyed listening to this album. I thought it a nice touch how the album gets progressively more harsh and distorted as it proceeds but then lessens towards the end. I liked how some of the sounds reminded me of electronic music from the 50s and 60s, albeit in a heavily distorted manner. Some effects and parts of tracks reminded me of some of Conrad Schnitzler's work which is always going to be a winner with me! I also liked how different genres of music (ritual, drone, ambient, noise) were mixed together. I would recommend this album with the proviso that it won't suit all tastes (but what music does?) but that shouldn't put the adventurous listener off.

You can find it here at a name your price so have a dig around your pockets and buy it.