Medhelan - Nocturnal Wanderings

The natural world around us moves in extended patterns and abrupt chaos. Like a virgin forest soaring with mighty trees, a nearby eruption followed by subsequent lava flow removing everything in an instant. Nocturnal Wanderings is the aural equivalent of looking high into a canopy of hardwoods. A droning quietness, sound is absorbed by living matter and does not reflect. This peacefulness continues, through centuries to millennia, eons slowly follow. Just beyond what can be seen and heard is a world continuing on similar patterns, innocuous in essence but still pressing on the tranquility within. When greater earthly and cosmic forces reign down, the randomness of outside forces bestow their ominous weight, in an instant making it known serenity is less than fragile. Medhelan has captured this relationship on the newest composition, harmonious beauty under foreboding shadows.

 

Four long tracks divided by translucent tones, beauty filtered through the haze of flickering flames. Medhelan is sonic warmth, melodies reaching through time to find our shared origins. This nostalgic connection transcends generations, there is a primordial current flowing through the entire composition. Heavy pressure from deep within the earth, volcanoes, earthquakes, geysers, hot pools of water, all components of the most destructive force this planet harbors. Beauty flows with each of these, even earthquakes, Lake Maralgol and Lake Goygol, in Azerbaijan were formed by an earthquake in 1139. Between the two recordings, Nocturnal Wanderings from 2009 and Eternal Wanderings from 2010 to 2015, Matteo Brusa holds timbre through time. Each selection long enough in length to explore the conscious, a journey through reincarnations and the love each life hopefully discovers. Strength constructed from sadness, splendor uncovered from simpleness. This is a weighty description for this composition by Medhelan, but Nocturnal Wanderings and the next chapter "Eternal Wanderings", travels a different path than other Medhelan releases. The sounds within focus on the natural breath of all things living through great stretches of time. Other Medhelan releases tilt towards epic folk ceremonies and sagas. Beautiful and majestic, but traveling different roads from Nocturnal Wanderings and Eternal Wanderings. If you have listened to Medhelan this is easily heard, but exploring on your own is worth all the words so far. 

 

A most gorgeous double cassette release and alternative compact disc release. Lighten Up Sounds has both of them still available, cassettes here, compact disc here. Although this is a little bit of a mystery since Lighten Up Sounds bandcamp page has cassettes as sold out. If you are in Europe, there are both cassettes and disc available from Medhelan's bandcamp page,but these are super close to being gone. The tapes are noted as the deluxe set, the double case housed in a beautifully printed sleeve. This set also includes a black rectangular patch with silver stitching and small metallic spiral badge. The deluxeness is needed to match the sounds within.    

 

Links
Lighten Up Sounds site - bandcamp - facebook 
Medhelan - bandcamp