SINIUS - Inter-Dimensional Interference.
Album: Inter-Dimensional Interference
Artist: SINIUS
Label: Self-released
Catalogue no: N/A
Tracklist:
1. Demonic Possession
2. EM-Interference
3. Erratic EMF Fluctuations
4. Esotericism (featuring Atmospheric Research)
5. Hillcrest Sanatorium
6. Imaginary Friends
7. Increased Kinetic Activity
8. Perceptual Isolation
9. Physical and Emotional Disorientation
10. Seeking Forgiveness
11. The Black Hen Planchette
12. The DOPler Effect
13. Waverly Hills
14. Residual Haunting (featuring Atmospheric Research)
Judging from this album and SINIUS’ previous release The Ossuary, British photographer and composer Daljit Kundi really likes his creepy, dank, and deeply occult atmospheres. While The Ossuary was inspired by the mysteries surrounding the Paris Catacombs, this one is based around various paranormal occurrences experienced in abandoned places. And you know what, whether you believe in such phenomena or not is irrelevant: I am a sceptic but when I once walked into an abandoned hospital in my hometown I have to say that it was the creepiest experience I’ve ever had, even in broad daylight. The sense that in that place people had been born (like I had been), had suffered illness (some terminal), and died, gave the place a decidedly eerie, cold, and depressing atmosphere. The same can also be said of this set of fourteen tracks: whatever occurred at the locations in question doesn’t really matter, it’s the atmospheres elicited by the music that’s most important.
And SINIUS heaps them up in huge ladles on Inter-Dimensional Interference. Deep bass drones, sweeping winds that appear to blow from some unknown source, strange noises emanating from walls and empty rooms, and cold whisperings and susurrations all converge into a singularity of infinite loneliness and sadness. These are all the memories that have been left behind, remnants of a life that for one reason or another refused to let go and remain earthbound, perhaps searching for that one thing that will give them peace: that someone will remember them. Perhaps they died alone and afraid, or that they had no one who cared about them. Perhaps they suffered terrible deaths at the hands of terrible people. Whatever happened, it was enough for them to be trapped by the gravity of the life they were torn from.
I can say with absolutely certainty that SINIUS has a knack of creating dense creepy atmospheres without resorting to clichés or time-worn stereotypical sound-effects in composing any of these pieces. Going back to my one and only eerie experience in the abandoned hospital, the drones employed by this project immediately bring to mind the shivery frigidity and oppression I felt while walking down dark, silent, empty corridors, my quiet footsteps still managing to echo hollowly. Sounds, no matter how minute, were amplified tenfold, and even innocent sounds like scratching animals, or birds, were automatically invested with a sense of dread unease. All the sounds you expect – voices, the noise of continuous activity, and shoes on tiles – were loud in their absence. Is it any wonder then that people claim to experience paranormal phenomena in such locations, as well as the feelings of physical dislocation and disorientation?
All fourteen compositions are finely layered and yet complex in what they describe. As mentioned, the palette used is composed mainly of subtle, sweeping drones, upon which more drones are sometimes layered, while at other times they’re interspersed with sounds that are strangely familiar yet, because they lack a proper context, take on an aura of the supernatural and otherworldly. Perhaps this is why some have taken the idea that the Afterlife is a variation of the life we lead now, with very much the same attributes – any communications from the ‘other side’ have a ring of comforting familiarity about them, and thus we are reassured. Thankfully though, as noted above, we are saved from samples of voices purporting to be those of the dead or of knocking recorded at séances, which I think would have cheapened this release had they been included. Instead we are treated to some wonderful spine-tingling atmospherics, some deliciously shivery moments, and some sonically descriptive passages that delineate that curiosity that most of us feel when we hear about such things – are they real experiences, or just wild imaginings sparked off by weird atmospheres?
There’s so much here to imbibe: this is what I would categorise as a pure noise/drone ambient album, and the lushness displayed is absolutely on the nail. I don’t have any hesitation in declaring that all tracks are recommended, so I suggest that you listen to this on a quiet evening while just letting yourself wallow in the ghostly textures and spectral atmospherics on show. However, I recommend that you don’t do so while prowling around any abandoned buildings – that’s one paranormal experience you might want to miss.
Available as a download from SINIUS’ Bandcamp site:
Psymon Marshall 2019.
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