Ritual Awakening

Dolmen

Skean Dhu 2003

Web:http://www.skeandhu.net

 

 

 Dolmen is a collaborative project between Daye of Skye founder Steven K. Smith and solo ambient artist Jason Sloan. Begun in 2000, the duo began working on "Ritual Awakening". Sloan who is based in Baltimore and Smith who is based in Cleveland, found the long distance collaboration to be challenging yet productive. Dolmen receives it's warm and organic sound by the variety of traditional instrumentation as well as analog elements.

 

"Ritual Awakening" is the debut album from Dolmen. "Ritual Awakening" is a sonic experience of dense soundwalls, minimal ambiance, and tribal fury. Varied and diverse, Dolmen have reated dark ethno-ambient world. "Ritual Awakening" has been called: "an enjoyable and contemplative sound experience" -Outburn5/02 as well as "an excellent gem of a work that speaks to an aesthetic that is as fresh as it is new" –Matt Borghi All Music Guide Staff Writer.

 

The intriguing mix of tribal sounds, electro ambient and environmental sound offers a fascinating texture which creates a dark and pagan atmosphere. I certainly found this CD worked on many levels and the depth of experience increased with each listening.

 

The Drums of War

Daye of Skye

Skean Dhu 2003

Web:http://www.skeandhu.net

 

"The Drums of War" is a sonic journey from tribal polyrhythms to walls of dense guitars and drones. Daye of Skye combines the ethnic with the experimental, creating a devastating yet beautiful sound experience. The album which took 3 1/2 years to record, went through many mixes and interpretations. The final result is the "wall of sound" which defines e album. David Petrovich of "The Perfect Guy" plays guitar on four tracks. He adds an intensity and color to his interpretation of the songs. This is quite a unique sound experience, the strong use of drumming and tribal/traditional music makes this quite a powerful experience, it fluctuates between electronic and world music and creates quite a unique experience.