SOLA TRANSLATIO (ALIO DIE and OPIUM)

Mother Sunrise

Hypnos Recordings (2001)

review by Bill Binkelman

Mother Sunrise is yet another great ambient music recording which incorporates field recordings (this time from locales such Thailand, Italy and some place called Koh Pee Pee) with soft washes of musical ambience. The album joins with another recent Hypnos release, Paul Vnuk's superb Silence Speaks in Shadow, in setting the stage for what will hopefully be the emergence of a new subgenre, i.e. the "serious" environmental/music recording. If such a subgenre does indeed emerge, Mother Sunrise will be a textbook example of the best that the category should embody.

The album is the work of the duo Sola Translatio (artists Alio Die, a.k.a. Stefan Musso and Opium, a.k.a. Matteo Zini). The instruments listed include samplers, textures, drones, programming and electronics (along with the field recordings). The first song ("Superior Spells"), which may be the best piece on the album, illustrates the artful way the two musicians sculpt the washes of electronics and drones around the presence of field recordings (in this case, the sound of water lapping and birdsong). There is a fluid feel to the music, in keeping with the natural rhythm and sound of the water. One of the samples sounds like a tamboura/tanpura (the East Indian drone instrument). This vague world music texture is extremely subtle and may not even be apparent to some listeners. "Sadness and Armony" begins with the sound of wind and flowing water. High-pitched quavering tones merge with the water (which increases in loudness as the cut continues). Arrhythmic percussive effects (resembling the sound of rain hitting metal containers) bring a level of sensuality to the cut, even amidst the somewhat vague sense of mystery. Later in the song, this rhythmic sound is matched by real droplets falling either into a body of water or maybe onto the floor of a cave. When listening on headphones, the "presence" and stereo-imaging of this cut is astounding!

The music on this CD is not dark, per se, but it is less comforting, shall we say, than Vnuk's music was to my ears. Still, I enjoyed Mother Sunrise every time I played it. It didn't create the same emotional resonance with me, but few albums ever do that anyway.

The title cut begins as an unaccompanied lower register drone, which is soon joined by layers of synths amidst an underlying recording of crickets and other night-time insects. The drones and synth washes are perfectly suited to the mood established by the gentle chirping from the nocturnal creatures. This song is my second favorite on the album, although I must say the entire CD has a most satisfying "play-through" factor. As this cut evolves, bird song and the sound of gently flowing water is introduced along with an interesting series of electronic textures, somewhat like a sustained and/or distorted sitar(?). This effect becomes more pronounced and more sitar-like as the song develops. I loved the juxtaposition of all the elements, i.e. the drones, the quasi-sitar, the flowing water, the birds and other trace elements. Alio Die and Opium have a way of integrating these various sonic elements seamlessly into a unique and evocative whole.

Other songs on the album include the nature-enhanced spacemusic-meets-ambient number "Awaken Spirits, " the eerie and forlorn "Lullaby for the Desert Moon," and the enigmatically -titled "Entrance Through a Self-Portrait" which features some unusual sound effects along with the (almost ubiquitous) flowing water and a solitary whistling bird call later in the song. The album concludes with "Undercurrent in Castevoli" and this cut features still more field recordings of water sounds (and by now you should realize that unless you find the sound of water flowing and dripping at least somewhat appealing, you won't enjoy this disc). As with nearly all the music that has come before, the ambient/spacemusic itself is comprised of a combination of washes, drones, and subtle effects and textures. Even the shorter pieces on Mother Sunrise have a languid feel to them as they unfold patiently their layer upon layer of shadowy chords, notes, and drones.

Hardcore purists may not be happy at th existence of recordings like this one or Paul Vnuk's latest effort. Myself, I'm solidly enjoying this movement toward incorporating the organic world we live in with an ethereal and spacy electronic ambience. Mother Sunrise is a gem of a CD. Its slowly evolving soundscapes are evocative and serene, even though emotionally they can sound a tad somber or forlorn at times. By carefully integrating their field recordings with their impressive sonic poetry, Sola Translatio have fashioned a most beautiful and friendly "darker" ambient release. Highly recommended!