not afraid to die (no)
For those who still wander through the strange wetlands of Eno’s Ambient 4: On Land, the dreamless nocturnal spaces of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II, the deepest nightworks of Robert Rich, the exquisite minimalism of Hiroshi Yoshimura, or the more spectral territories of Bola’s ambient techno... there is something here for you.
not afraid to die (no) is a beautiful and mysterious offering from Spycker, an enigmatic sound project from the Netherlands.
Six pieces of in-between-worlds ambient music — mottled, elusive, quietly spellbinding. Six miniature worlds that sometimes feel like the tribal music of a people from a country that never existed, somewhere deep inside an impossible jungle where mist has seeped into every pore of the universe.
Fourth-world percussion flickers through the undergrowth. Occult little ascensions emerge and disappear. Miraculous chiaroscuro, gentle vertigo, strange pockets of playfulness dissolving into nocturnal torpor... Everything seems alive in some discreet, half-conscious way, yet nothing ever reveals itself completely.
And perhaps that is what makes not afraid to die (no) so singular: Spycker’s wonderfully peculiar sonic palette, handled with immense sensitivity and, above all, restraint. Nothing is overstated. Nothing needs to be.
A very, very beautiful journey — intoxicating, intimate, and just slightly unsettling.
-Sir Kuliktavikt
