Simon Gore
Én Ti
Norwegian-esque multi-instrumentalist Simon Gore unveils his latest album Én Ti. and it is an epic journey through various sounds, ideas and situations. The album raises varying emotions through the duration and there is a beautiful as well as harrowing nature to it. This is a soundscape that conjures up images of a dystopian world and the desire to survive it.
Flash Cube, an ominous mesh of sounds opens Én Ti, with the song starting with a wailing of feedback and morphs slowly into a menacing rhythm before descending back into the feedback at the conclusion of the track and this start creates a lasting impression that ends until the end of the album. Hospital Clown follows and its epic feel elevates the album and has an urgent and almost upbeat feel to it and its glacial nature is reminiscent of that classic Tangerine Dream sound and the theme from one of the greatest films ever made The Exorcist, Mike Oldfields eternal Tubular Bells. The track transcends with its orchestral dominance and creates an air of sheer power. The next track Keith Cannot Be Killed By Conventional Weapons starts off as a very human song with some strong use if it’s acoustic nature but ultimately transforms into a very robotic form which carries on into the next song and which tellingly is entitled Prove You’re Not A Robot. The song starts as Keith Cannot Be Killed By Conventional Weapons ends with mechanical sounds before its conclusion sees some eerie synths coming into play that’s despite their electronic sounds seems to add a human aspect to its proceedings. The harshness of following track Sebastian Worley is a void of nothingness to begin with, the crackling sounds that the track begins with conjures up a ghostly image of staring into an abyss and creates an unsettling calm. The creeping dread that emerges after this does nothing to settle you and the bleakness of it will stay with you for a long time. The album draws to its conclusion with the slow burning and brooding tension of The Tenth year Of Forever and the closing Thor Is Unhappy Because He Misses His Hammer ends the proceedings in a dizzyingly sombre and minimal fashion.
Én Ti is the sound of an artist controlling his vision to perfection and seeing it come to fruition in such a beguiling way is testament to his skill as a musician and the whole album has a cinematic quality to it that does create images with its sounds.
Én Ti is ultimately an album that has a plethora of warmth at the heart of it overall, despite the constant ice cold nature of the music that commands your attention and keeps you on edge throughout the album. With the album, Gore has seen his vision come to life and it soundtracks various emotional states perfectly and that cinematic quality would easily fit into a John Carpenter or David Lynch film such is its scope and the way it is executed and is a memorable and inspiring body of work.
The album launch will be held at Cardiff Made October 22nd from 7pm with a special live performance and support from local musician MNTZ– event details https://www.facebook.com/events/339438019728700/
https://simongore.bandcamp.com
Words: Gavin Brown
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