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Thorn1
- So Far As Fast
MP3 Album 2010 | Silber
091
11 tracks, 55 minutes
$5 (download
only (256 kbps, ~92 megs))
Thorn1 hails from Russia &
on their debut album they embrace the winter with blankets of guitar drone
following in the tradition of Aarktica & Remora.
:
Press release
:
Listen to the track Drone
:
Lyrics
Track Listing:
Organiq Grostee, Drone,
We Are Frozen, Safe Trip, Untitled #3, Snow Is Abstract, And Death Shall
Have No Dominion, Why Am I Here So Distant From My Old Life, Dissosense,
Fall In Love (Or Fallen Love As You See), Welcome Home (Aarktica cover) |
Reviews:
After learning a little of the history
behind this album, it might not be surprising that it sounds a bit like
an elegy – there is something of a funeral procession that moves steadily
and subtly through each piece.
As Thorn1, musician Evegny Zhedya
presented So Far As Fast as something of a farewell to his life in Russia
before moving to Kiev, Ukraine. As a prelude to leaving, saying goodbye
to home and to friends, the album works exceptionally well to capture a
bittersweet journey from one place to another.
The music presents a fairly turbulent
range of emotions, yet more often than not it is subdued and sombre in
effect. Through elongated, ethereal drones, blended with shades of post-rock,
electronica and shoegaze, Evegny has created a dreamlike sense of separation
and isolation; during which most pieces utilise either guitar, piano and
accordian to elicit often searing melody, which both contrast and highlight
the sense of loss.
Organiq Grostee, the opening track,
is almost frightening, and probably would be had it been purely instrumental.
It’s a little like the opening scene of a film, where an organ grinder
is standing on the corner of an otherwise empty street - one whose
eerie presence has the capacity to inspire both faint trepidation
and a kind of comforting familiarity from the knowledge you’re not completely
alone on that street.
Soon after, fourth track Safe Trip
makes a rather definitive statement on the tone and perspective of the
journey being related. It is a gorgous 8½ minutes of echoing guitar
that rests on the cusp of the darkest moment before the dawn. As the sun
rises, or in this case the rest of the album progresses, the light is cast
on landscapes of various textures and temperatures.
This culminates in the final track,
Welcome Home, a beautiful piano instrumental. It’s like listening to a
heart simultaneously break and mend in slow motion – the triumph is tempered
with tragedy, the hurt with healing, and the separation balanced with solace.
So Far As Fast is an eclectic mix,
steeped in a similar sense of dreamy disorientation, the likes of which
you feel when experiencing déjà vu – surreal and a little
mysterious, but still…it is accompanied by the implicit knowledge that
it belongs to you.
~ Satellite for Entropy
...the debut album by Russian band
Thorn1 who according to the press release "embrace winter with blankets
of guitar drone". Can't argue with that.
~ Burning World
Thorn1 was founded in 2005 in the Altai
region of russia by Evgeny Zheyda as a side project of his post-grunge
band Partisani, blending drone, shoegaze, electronics, & nature sounds.
So Far As Fast, the first official release, is filled with funeral hymns,
snowstorms, the freezing breath of solitude, & the hope for a shining
future. Post angst music from Siberia.
~ Blotter - The Bad Acid Podcast
Who needs lyrics when you’ve got birdsong
and light sabre noises? I kid you not. Russia's Thorn1 may be most obscure,
but has originality on their side. But that’s the nicest way of putting
it. Another artist loosely falling under the ‘shoegaze’ fad, So Far As
Fast does its best not to be categorised. ‘Organiq Grotsee’ is more or
less a funeral hymn, and ‘Snow Is Abstract’ is just seven minutes of weirdly
atmospheric synth noises that consist of no more than three notes. But
amongst all this, there is a glimmer of hope: ‘(And Death Shall Have No
Dominion)’ is almost your typical melancholy indie track, but it retains
the same atmospheric feel as the rest of the album. Not a bad record exactly;
it’s just a very acquired taste at best. 3/10
~ Blaise Ruston, The Digital Fix
Brian John Mitchell, the head of independent
label Silber Records, sent me notice regarding a Russian shoegaze/drone
band named, Thorn1. “Drone,” as it’s so appropriately titled, is isolating
and drenched in reverb. It’s also rather lush and nice to listen to. This
track is from Thorn1’s latest album, So Far As Fast.
~ Sean Caldwell, Letters from a Tapehead
