When i saw this release from Sweet Solitude, i was intrigued. I needed to order it immidiately. Here's the spiel that dug me in: "Ultra minimal noise and textures from the UK. No there is nothing wrong with the CD, it is meant to be that quiet!!!". I'm sure it sold out really quickly as it was in a borderline criminal 10 copies. This is the first time i'm hearing of Small Hours, which is the Project of the Sweet Solitude head honcho.
So when it came i opened it, and for a minute i like to look at the packaging, as it (at least) should give an idea or a clue to the audio included. It's an unmarked 3"cdr in a clear poly slimline dvd case, with just a little card announcing the project and release name. Pretty much as minimal as you'd expect from the description. So i first tried to listen to this in my car, and it was hard to distinguish what was engine noise and what wasn't, or even if there was anything t all on the disc. So it took me a couple more days to be able to concentrate in a fairly isolated location. At normal listening levels it's barely audible. As a matter of fact it seems like at first that your waiting for your ears to pop, like you've been underwater, or you started on an elevation change. So then i cranked the stereo as loud as it would go to hear as much detail as i could. There was some bubbling and faint crackling to be found, but even at this volume i'm straining my ear (which i think is the purpose). I can't say for certain that it's a pleasurable listen, as most of the actual audio very well may contain tones and sounds i don't like. Ultimately though, it's a challenging yet rewarding listen, and i think i'm ok with that.
As a conceptual release (i hope i'm not assuming too much here) i think this is amazing. This obviously isn't party noise, i think it's more of a release that requires a little private time. If you have an isolation room, fortress of solitude, or even a house in the woods far, far away from everyone else this release must be godly. I can't help but ask myself though, is this HNW? I mean it's not harsh by any means, it certainly is noise, and it could be considered a wall, i mean the same basic structure is there. Or more importantly does HNW even really stand for harsh noise wall anymore, or is it just a basic idea, with some loose guidelines...
Either way, Pulse II gets my noggin thinking. Highly reccomended!
p.s. the first Pulse is over @ the HNW Graveyard
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