5 out of 5

Label: VHF Records

Produced by: Æthenor

Somewhere between ambience and noise lies the creepy crawl scratchy haunting genius of Æthenor’s debut, Deep in Ocean…  Featuring the ever inventive Stephen O’Malley and Daniel O’Sullivan, ‘Deep’ sets an interesting precedent with its countdown track structure, numbered 4 to 1 in Roman numerals, descending order.  Starting out in nigh silence, a slight rumbling letting you know the disc is playing, IV winds its way through ten minutes of building oddities – feedback, scraping, guitars, found soundish noises – growing and growing until it seemingly runs out of breath, morphing into III, which takes the notes and begins to patiently buzz and unsettle with its 13 minute refusal to coalesce into something more than the vague outline of ghosts…  This is meant as a compliment, mind you.  Whereas the opener feels like it slowly burbling with intentions, the followup is the creepy, knowing smile, aware that you’re listening and now keeping you in its clutches without giving anything away.  Because of this intense relationship the first two tracks share, it’s almost disappointing that there’s not a proper segue to II, which is much shorter and incidental in comparison, like leftover moments from the previous tracks.  But the break in flow ends up being worth it as I – working with the rustling of chains or coins and other harmless but curious sounds – suddenly breaks into loud and brash keys for its last portion.  The switch is truly breath-taking, and harsh, and completely justifies the overall sequencing of the disc.

While the album veers more toward the doom and gloom of its composers’ general output versus the psych / folk often found on VHF, Æthenor absolutely has its place alongside the more ethereal groups on the label’s roster, like From Quagmire, and adds another dimension to the wonders of sound and experimental music VHF offers.  But be warned: this is not background music; it is arrestingly creepy and expertly designed to keep you invested in what may lie beyond the next note.