Celer - An Immensity Merely To Save Life (Self-Released, 2012)

Tweet

Drone is an often misunderstood genre, one taken for granted and victimized by naysayers who regress to easier, more digestible audible escapes. Though taken into consideration, if escapism is indeed what a listener craves when sinking into a new album, logic would sway more towards drone’s underlying aesthetic, as escaping reality is the one of the key objectives of the genre. Without a voice, lyrics, or often times definable instruments, the music relies heavily on hypnotic elements such as sunken tones, swaying hums, and lucid textures to convey its message. It can be a truly mesmerizing effect, and on An Immensity Merely To Save Life, Celer demonstrate how to effectively render the concept of escapism into music, by gently guiding the listener through a soothing cosmos of warm structures and loose memories, to somewhere far away in the deep recesses of a bygone state.

Though only consisting of two tracks, An Immensity Merely To Save Life is a full and well-rounded listen, with each track evoking shared cohesive elements throughout, yet maintaining discreet characteristics as individuals. “Of My Complaisance” opens the album on a dreary note, with forlorn emotions gently scarring the hanging backdrop. The faint reminisce of strings can be heard sirening through the foggy arrangement, contrasting the damp atmosphere in search of life as gorgeous earth-toned textures further steal the composition of breath. The ghosts eventually evaporate, and amidst the shrouded aftermath looms the “Gusts Of Hysterical Petulance”, a considerably more uplifting piece guided by the drowning echoes of a submerged synthesizer. Following the flood are expanding vibrations that accent the watery downfall, closing the album with a strange contrast of comfortable unease.

I assume this isn’t the first time Celer have successfully vehicled consciousness, as they have an immense catalog full of what looks to be promising material, though this is the first album I’ve heard from the group. Despite their clearly frequent output, this is an album from start to finish that is extremely well put together, like every muted pulse, delicate murmur, and blurry vibration was enlightened by the dimly tuned knob of a physics major. Their awareness of space and how to fill it is a vital factor throughout, as the slightest change in pitch or tempo would derail the slightly mutating repetition of misted phrases off its beaten path. There’s no clear conceptual drive here, but after listening there’s certainly a chance you’ll feel like you’ve been somewhere else altogether, like the shadow of something indescribable.

Though this is music that consists of confronting subtleties and opaque subject matter, it doesn’t have to be clouded beneath the majorities comfort zone. This is surprisingly immediate ambient music that anybody could appreciate, whether familiar with the genre or not. These are sounds that on the surface, barely exist, but as time goes on feel intimately real and close to the mind as they wash out of their respected source, transporting the listener through a calming loop of aural bliss. Drone is as much a conscious effort as it is an audible one, and it’s albums like An Immensity Merely To Save Life that put this idea to the test, and if you give it a chance it can take you somewhere else completely.


[Celer, etc. Website]
[Stream/Buy An Immensity Merely To Save Life from Celer]

Yui Onodera & Celer - Generic City (Two Acorns, 2010)

Tweet

Generic City is an almost perfect execution of collaborating. Performing together are two reputable acts in ambient and experimental music, consisting of Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist Yui Onodera as well as the prolific Californian duo of Celer. With both collaborators being immensely talented in their own rights, the pooling of their separate ideas has equated to four movements of boundlessly stellar exploration.

These 47 minutes represent a combination of two cultures and lifestyles from each of their perspectives. Yui Onodera incorporates recordings of Japans variety of customs: children playing, temple bells, voices in prayer to Buddha, among many others. Celer present sounds from the metropolitan lifestyle of Los Angeles: cars passing, conversations between people in restaurants, pedestrians within a plethora of other sounds. All of this incorporated found sound from their locations is intertwined with the use of musical instruments as well; guitar, electronics, violin, cello, and even more unconventional instrumentation like theremin and ocarina.

Rather than accenting the music itself, the field recordings are the main attraction on Generic City. Surely, the instrumentation and the ecoacoustics are in constant rotation-- however the music is exceptionally minimal, with resonating hums that manifest within an attentive listen. This leaves all heads turned toward the atmospheres of each location, which bleed into one another seamlessly and allow the urban theme of these four pieces to come full circle.

Onodera and Celer acknowledge that both settings aren't meant to be seen as two unrelated parts of the world, or a side-by-side comparison of the two cultures-- but make note that though geographically distanced, these concepts are connected by nature. Generic City alludes to the idea that musicians are subconsciously influenced by their environment, and the way that the artists' music blends with nature strongly represents this idea.

[Yui Onodera Myspace]
[Celer Myspace]
[Buy Generic City from Two Acorns]

Celer - Engaged Touches (Home Normal, 2010)

Tweet

The Californian duo of William and Danielle Baquet-Long, known as Celer, manages to create sounds on its 2009 release Engaged Touches that are breathtaking, transcendental, and confusing at times. Over a year after selling all 500 copies within two days of pre-order availability, the Home Normal label has decided to grace 1000 more ears with this re-release.

The sounds provided, apart from the field recordings, are built from time-stretched string arrangements, tape loops and various other effects. The orchestral loops and samples have a presence that is very organic—yet alien at the same time, which is further accentuated by the reverb and echo that lingers throughout Engaged Touches. This becomes apparent in the first piece “A Once and Meaningful Life” which opens with the sound of a train, easing into a constant loop of hazy, sustained strings that leave the listener in a murky euphoria.

Keep in mind, though, that repetition is very prevalent on Engaged Touches. The arrangements provided are very minimal, and aren’t necessarily built upon—but exploration isn’t the purpose; the instrumentation will repeat throughout a given piece, but it being magnified by the aforementioned haze proves that Celer are aspiring to be meditative, rather than reaching an apogee. Their meditative ambition is a refreshing aberration from the slow-building structures in experimental music that has, at this point, become ubiquitous.

On Engaged Touches, Celer create an environment that is meant to be lost in; much like being lost in a field filled with flowers: though there’s an evident level of disorientation, the setting itself isn’t threatening in the slightest. Though versatility may not play a prominent role here, Engaged Touches is an album that is just a simply beautiful masterpiece and nothing more.

[Celer Myspace]
[Buy Engaged Touches from Home Normal]