As I put on the latest Terra Sancta release I wonder, is it just me or has there been a growing interest in Dark Ambient over the past couple years? There appears to be a swell in sweeping home produced waves of synths, delayed strings, and references to the cosmos. I’m not complaining, but if one has discriminating taste it’s natural to put a critical eye to the growing number of pedantic facsimiles.
I believe “Buried, Sunken, Forgotten” is a superb illustration of what kind of atmosphere can be achieved when ethereal ambience is mixed with just the right amount of distorted, grimy production. Knowing that Greg Good, the man behind Terra Sancta, mastered label-mate False Mirror’s immaculate “Derelict World”, I get the feeling that the abrasive nature of this recording was entirely intentional and not the byproduct of an amateur producer.
There’s nothing inheritably wrong with crisp, clean production. In fact, if done right (for example, by the aforementioned False Mirror and audio virtuoso Brian Lustmord), it can accentuate minute devilish details that set the mood like embers crackling off a flame. But, in my opinion, religiously adhering to such techniques can lead to a number of boring, indistinguishable releases which lack any defining personality of their own. Sometimes imperfect audio replication can perfectly capture the chaotic acoustic textures that surround us.