“We were playing Hide and Seek on a Cemetery Hill…
…quiet hiding in the flowers…among the Flowers and Bones…”
Atmospheric drones slowly unfold into childhood memories …
Peaceful melancholic romanticism, but gradually overshadowed by fear of something out of control?
Remember: all’s well that ends well….
When waiting for this album to arrive, I have wondered about its strange subtitle: “The internal campaign for the safe and complete return of the sleeping egyptian to the desert”.
How to prepare for an album about a sleeping egyptian craftsman, waiting endlessly in the British Museum, dreaming about his return to find rest under his lost ‘blanket of sand‘…?
I had no real doubts, of course, considering the preceding Human Greed albums, and Michael Begg‘s contribution to the Fovea Hex projects, as well as his ‘Fragile Pitches’ collaboration project with Colin Potter.
But, to be honest, I was somewhat reserved about this album’s mythological theme and the effect it might have on the music.
What exactly happens at the moment night changes back into day again, when darkness slowly retreats and light comes back in?
Are we aware of what happens outside, at that time of day most of us are still sleeping?
What sort of animals or creatures are hiding from the light, and what sort finally dare to come out again?
Would we discover “Dawn Secrets” when we’d leave our own safe and familiar surroundings?
To be honest, I did not start this mix with this theme in mind…it just ‘dawned’ on me when listening to it when it was almost finished…But from the start, I wanted this mix to have a strong ‘environmental’ feel (but not only include field recordings).
The Bersarin Quartett is a bit hard to classify. If a subgenre called ‘lounge ambient’ (not to be shortcutted to ‘lambient’, please) existed, the Bersarin Quartett would be one of the first to fit in. Or maybe even define it.
The Bersarin Quartett is not a quartet at all, as you might’ve expected: it’s just “Thomas”. Thomas “Bersarin’s” music can best be described floating somewhere between Biosphere’s ‘Shenzou’ and Cinematic Orchestra without vocals.
‘Cinematic’ this sure is: string orchestra samples are used to full effect. It’s a widescreen soundtrack to non-existent films.
And it’s full of mixed emotions….
