Loren Nerell: The venerable dark cloud Loren Nerell: The venerable dark cloud (Amplexus - 2000) The venerable dark cloud has finally come to earth... Loren Nerell's newest was floating around in various stages of production since our interview last May. The only drawback to this specially packaged 3" mini-CD from Amplexus is that, at only slighty more than 21 minutes, it leaves the listener wanting more. More abstractly atmospheric than lilin dewa but less audio-realistic/panoramic than Indonesian Soundscapes, these four cloud-borne tracks hover in a lovely, ethno-tinged dreamworld. Wordless strands of female voice and serpentine flute passages occasionally emanate from the resonant haze of Dark Horizon, which thrums with mysterious energies and sporadic echoey beats. From within the drifting shadows of Eclipse, symmetrical gamelan patterns drift in a diffused latticework of hypnotic brassy tones, backed by slow, hushed percussion. Shifting gong haze takes our ears Within the Cloudwhich is laced with distant metallic clatter, fluttering soundwaves and sweetly somber organ-like drones, all of which become soft but chaotic textures. Crowing cocks, thunder and rain (a' la Indonesian Soundscapes) are surrounded by slowly circling twines of flute sound in Ablution (2:19) While unfortunately brief, The venerable dark cloud is a purely gorgeous immersion into Loren Nerell's subtle ambi-ethnic ear-dreams. The third world musicality is beautifully subdued, so don't be afraid of getting beat over the head with an overt dose of World Music. It's definitely recommended that you get your head into these 8.9 clouds. Loren's own homepage can give you even more info... This review posted April 29, 2000 AmbiEntrance © 2000-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).