Title: Aires (Self Titled / Eponymous)
Artist: Aires
Release Date: 11 February 2014
Genre: Ambient / Shoegaze / Noise
License: CC BY-NC-SA
Label: Enough Records / Bandcamp
Introduction
It doesn’t have a beat, and you can’t dance to it, but that doesn’t make any difference in this case. The ambient machine Aires aren’t about producing dance-able or humm-able music as we know it. Aires is an ambient shoegaze project from Portugal, producing the sounds of the landscape around us: metallic and mechanized and hollow.
The Ambient Machine Aires
So, with so many ambient drone style projects available in netlabel-land, what separates this one from the others?
Each song on this four track release is dedicated to a different type of landscape. On ‘organico I / vozes sem corpo’ we are presented the disembodied, metallic voices of the a mechanized landscape. Not the pounding, rhythmic sounds of machines, but rather the after ringing of them. The sound that will transform the landscape for generations to come.
‘oranico II / monolítico’ we are presented with a more organic rush of wind. It’s like being caught in a wind tunnel, or windy valley. Other sounds swoop in and out, while the basic sound of the wind just keeps rushing by your ears.
‘isoceles’ is a simple piano track. A rather stunning break after two long, dark, experimental drone pieces. But is it supposed to be a welcome relief? Or is it supposed to be a jarring juxtaposition to what is the norm of this release? Either way it is the most melodic work on this release.
‘contraplacado’ meaning either plywood or laminate. Layers and layers of sounds, pressed together. Shifting patterns of metallic noise over the top of each other. However, within each of the clusters of noise there is a clear tone, giving the feeling of a near melodic nature. Like a melody that have been stretched out and nearly lost in the noise.
Conclusion
I’m not quite certain why this would be considered shoegaze? It doesn’t fit the image I have of someone with a guitar slung over their body, hanging low, head bowed looking at their shoes. However, the remainder of the description seems pretty accurate: ambient, noise. drone, field recordings.
The first two pieces are complimentary to each other. It is a two part composition, each part emphasizing a different element. The third track introduces a new, melodic element to the vocabulary on Aires. The payoff is in the fourth, and final track when the elements of the first three tracks are combined into a final, gorgeous composition.
Aires: Aires
Free / Name Your Price
7
Pros
- Enough Records release is free
- Aires BandCamp release is Name Your Price
