Steam, ice, water, pixels.
Loscil and Fieldhead’s (not really a) collaboration, Fury and Hecla, has light reflected backwards on smoke, violins, a high mass performed in a cathedral of steam, and a crazy rain stick filled with glitchy ice crystals. If none of that entices you…well, I hear One Direction is pretty shitty.
Ambient musicians Loscil (Scott Morgan) and Fieldhead (Paul Elam) shared echoes and ghosts of each others’ sounds throughout the six track release (the former taking the odd tracks, the latter taking the even), so everything feels connected; creating a massive, continuous, sonic landscape. There are freezing oceans (“fury”), blizzards (“with northerly winds”), a volcano (“hecla”), an ancient haunted mansion (“helluland”), and an abundance of bells, tolling forever (“northumberland”).
While Elam takes less time to get to the meat of his pieces, Morgan is more languorous, assuming you’ll make the effort and embark on a slightly longer journey, which you should. On the whole, I could have done with a bit more from Fieldhead, but I appreciate the oddly humble decision of his to put more content into less space.
It feels lazy just calling this “ambient”, so I won’t. This is the music I would want with me if ever I became an interplanetary explorer. And, if any interplanetary explorers are reading this, go and check out Loscil / Fieldhead’s Fury and Hecla, because it’s a lot better than listening to the empty suck of the vacuum of space.
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