Low Point Review #4 : Apalusa - Small Environs

Sorry it took a bit long to get to this one. This is the last installment in the Low Point reviews series for now... We'll just have to wait till they put out some more excellent releases. There should be a Chris Herbert/Felix split 7" coming up soon, and a Last of the Real Hardmen CD-r. I'm looking forward to them. So, on to the review...

Apalusa - Small Environs (Low Point 009)
Apalusa is Nottingham, UK based Dan Layton (who also plays guitar in Souvaris). His debut as Apalusa, "Small Environs", has been released on Low Point as a 3" CD-r. In keeping with the Low Point aesthetic, this is another beautifully constructed drone ambient piece. "Small Environs" unfolds across three tracks and 20 minutes, molded out of piano, guitar, and gentle noise.

Part 1 eases into a soft, high-pitched ringing with mounting ambient noises and low end murmurs in the background. Soon you feel like you're in a huge, spacious, abandoned factory that is somehow still working... or the engine room of a massive alien starship. Take your pick. But a 2-chord pulse rises out of the gentle din, shedding layers of itself to claim the sonic space. Beautiful aeolian tones establish a lush ambient environment centered around the original pulse; a very lulling, relaxing sound that manages to maintain simplicity despite its lushness.

Then it's gone, and a sound like a distant wind-tunnel carries you into Part 2. A spacious soundscape like a nocturnal windswept desert develops, and for a while subtle tones waver just out of the foreground. This segment is full of true ambient, abstract sounds before a shifting drone with a bit more definition takes shape while a hovering delayed guitar mingles its sounds. The whole CD is an excercise in subtlety, but Part 2 is definitely the crowning point.

Part 3 begins with stronger sounds, building on where Part 2 seamlessly left off. Layers of tones create an intricately complex drone that continues to grow in volume. This drone is at once pleasing and threatening, with the low end shifting between tones magnificently beneath swirls of guitar. The haziness of sound increases pleasantly before it all fades out.

The sound of "Small Environs" could be compared to Tim Hecker, but is less noisy and much more restrained, dealing less with concrete melodies. There are elements of Brian Eno's ambient works, Stars of the Lid, and perhaps even Francisco Lopez's environmental ambience, but Apalusa is definitely forging a sleepy sound of its own with its debut release. I hope to see more.

"Small Environs" comes in a transparent mini-DVD case with wraparound artwork printed on vellum paper. Limited to 50 copies.