Warmth Terminal – Getting Closer

Hibernate continue to build on their excellent track record with this simple, but stunning release from Warmth Terminal a.k.a ambient musician David Lancaster…

Getting Closer is a 45 minute glimpse into a precisely defined dream world spread over four tracks, each exploring drifting melodic structures in a focused and restrained manner. With the simplest of ingredients, Lancaster creates peculiarly vivid sonic landscapes and is capable of evoking, in this reviewer at least, an almost synaesthetic fusion of sound and mental
imagery.

The first track, “On that day” is a piece of two halves. The initial seven minutes feature slowly evolving synth drones reminiscent, in a hazy, suspended way, of ‘music has the right to children’ era BOC. This ephemeral opening gradually fills out and midway through the track a playful melody bubbles up from the drone, and the mood of the piece becomes hopeful and cinematic in scope. The final  six minutes become the soundtrack to discovering a vast underwater city – epic chord changes underpinned by the effervescence of a sparkling, popping melody.

Track two, “they sat down”, features a swelling, breathing organ drone set against a field-recording of rain. Floating, drawn out notes form a gently shifting progression that never quite resolves over the course of the seven minute track. The overall result is a carefully crafted take on quietly staring out of a window on a drizzly grey Sunday – somehow beautiful and
melancholic at the same time.

“All around us”, the third track, strikes a distinctly spiritual chord. A Hymnal note acts as an omnipresent backdrop for a piece which seems explicitly designed to mimic a sense of quasi-religious awe – suspended and still, like a slice of time unending. Truly, the simplicity of this music is deceptive – given the attention it deserves, this is a hugely absorbing track that is capable of transporting the listener on a blissful inner journey.

The final track, “See in slow motion”, is similar in structure to its immediate predecessor but conjures up a different feeling entirely with its absorbing, descending melody circling around on itself throughout the track. Subtlety is key here, and the listener is rewarded with a trance-inducing nine minutes of satisfying tonal clarity.

Overall, this four tracker is a very strong addition to the Hibernate canon and, with its airy/crystalline keyboard basis, offers a refreshing palate cleanser from the doomier drone material that seems, at times, to dominate this field. Review by John McCaffrey for Fluid Radio

Available through the Hibernate store here
Soon to Experimedia here

www.myspace.com/warmthterminal
www.hibernate-recs.co.uk