After the successful and very welcome return of Seefeel over the last couple of years both live and with the releases of the two recent mini-albums, Mark Clifford had always planned to release a full length album and finally that time has come.
Sixteen years on from their self-titled album, also on Warp, the distant visions of Sol.Hz are unleashed, sounding as if they have arrived through the atmosphere over millennia, somehow current yet remarkably timeless.
If there are guitars involved in the construction of this album, it is very hard to distinguish them from the overall sounds produced and the slow, distant drift of opener “Brazen Haze” sets things up well as it echoes in from an eternity away. I still think no-one sounds like them, but the thing that sets this album apart from its predecessors is the dichotomy between the humanity and proximity of the beats and the glacial eternity of the electronics. When you then add in Sarah Peacock‘s treated vocals, it is an impressive and unique soundscape.The hints of feedback on “Everydays” are at odds with the complicated immediacy of the beats and when the torpid long-range electronic washes appear through the glass, they shimmer and fade like distant stars. You can almost see them travelling as if the speed of sound has been slowed down to some unknown degree.
The frequency changes on “Ever No Way” usher in Sarah’s appearance, her distended, barely present vocals defining ethereal as they weave in and out of the electronic pulses. The variation in the rhythms and the textural subtleties are beguiling, giving each track its own corner of the universe with Sarah’s voice that of an angelic overseer, calming and tranquil.
Other pieces are more urgent than others: “AM flares” has a siren sound and odd disjointed speech that washes around you, pulling further from reality. In fact, some of the sounds on “Falling First” could also be voices; but at some far end of the spectrum, as if somehow we have forgotten about speech. The tones on “Until Now” feel as if somebody is playing telegraph wires, the sounds travelling enormously long distances and drifting past like the last sounds we will ever hear.
It is this evocation of distance and stretching of time that Sol.Hz manages so well, pushing us out of a recognisable orbit; yet it engages and moves in equal measure. It is so good to have a full-length record after all this time, but for it to be this strong and yet so unfathomable is an impressive feat. An essential addition to Seefeel’s legacy and one that rewards with every listen.-Mr Olivetti-
