Anduin - The River's Path
[SMTG Limited]

This five-track affair sees Souvenir’s Young America man Jonathan Lee break from the day job and into the world of ambient sounds – dark ambient at that. While side-projects have a tendency to be self-indulgent, Lee has side-stepped such pitfalls on “The River’s Path”, sharing common ground with revered artists like Deaf Center and Machinefabriek. Each of the twenty minutes or so of this 3" disc (part of the intriguing Richmond, VA Ambient Series) are cloaked in a shadowy darkness that helps to create a particularly immersive atmosphere. Blurring the line between manipulated field recordings and claustrophobic soundscaping, Lee portrays a talent for almost suffocating those who listen into his world of slow-moving, drone-melodies and buried found sounds.

The title track itself is sensational, as jittery free-from percussion, reminiscent of Norwegian experimentalists Supersilent, propels a fore-boding synth-drone progression from barely audible gasp into a cavernous, full-blown roar. It conjures images of some fantastical temple, while complimenting the sly Tolkien reference in his chosen artist’s name. Played at the right volume, this piece has a hypnotic quality to it and after several listens I am still trying to decipher if there are some sort of voices/chants buried deep underneath. Much like his main gig in Souvenir’s Young America, Lee’s solo project is very much augmented by the use of a good pair of headphones, as it is possible to discover new textures and buried treasures with each new spin.

The atmospherics on “The River’s Path” as a whole are rather special. Some may find comfort in the resonating warmth found within the recurring waves of sound on “Reasons in Exile”. This reviewer was left particularly unsettled with the counter-balancing insect-like chatter and slicing, degraded industrial drones of some machine that appears to be locked in a hidden room somewhere deep beneath the ground. While noted dark ambient musician Deathprod has been known to spread his particular “audio virus”, it would appear Jonathan Lee has a plague of his own in Anduin. With a full length LP in the works and set to feature some very special guests, it would appear it won’t be long until you too, are infected.

Tracklisting:

1. For Francis Bacon
2. Catholic Guilt
3. Insomniatic Vapors
4. Reasons In Exile
5. The River’s Path