Aarktica and the stunning grand reflections of "Like Embers"

"Listening to the revelry, the dark beauty here I thought of a collision of artists..."


I know instinctually why I gravitated towards "Like Embers" by Aarktica, the ambient/atmospheric project of Jon DeRosa, right away. It is because while it's swelling narrative is comprised of drones of sounds containing melodies, it's foremost feeling, gut punch is the textural sound of something organic colliding. Like the cellos creating a powerful tension by two things engaging aggressively against one another, the sense here feels like nature in turmoil whether here on earth or elsewhere. The potent waves of sound feel like the birth of stars or raising ocean waters on Earth about to cleanse itself. There is a thought process that nature is capricious but maybe it is a gigantic organism doing what it has to do to survive, mechanistic in it's fury and beauty. 

"Like Embers" is in some way a grand deception (like nature itself) because while it feels comprised of dozens of elements it is, instead, comprised of only guitar and strings with some ambient voices deep in the mix and I think that is amazing. When it comes to soundscapes especially as soundtracks for films this is what I want to hear, melodies that you hear creating sounds you only feel. Listening to the revelry, the dark beauty here I thought of a collision of artists like Montana experimental cellist Jesse Ahmann and Jonny Greenwood.

"Like Embers" is from Aarktica's just released album "We Will Find the Light".

-Robb Donker Curtius

 

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://www.facebook.com/Aarktica

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Ly1WdvdasapfbydGfdv2O

https://www.youtube.com/user/aarktica

https://aarktica.bandcamp.com/

https://www.aarktica.com/


Aarktica is the ambient/atmospheric project of Jon DeRosa, who has been releasing a diverse catalog of music (with a revolving lineup of collaborators) under this guise since 1998.

Aarktica’s audio explorations span decades and include a wide-range of styles, straddling shoegaze and ambient, jazz and drone, and most recently immersed in deep, meditative sounds for cosmic journeys.

Aarktica, ambient and drone, art post rock, indie rock, experimental, jazz, shoegaze, nature in turmoil, gentle lullaby, "Like Embers", just released album "We Will Find the Light",