Rapoon: Time Frost
Glacial Movements
Time Frost by Rapoon, an alias of one-time zoviet* france member (and co-founder) Robin Storey, deviates to some degree from the two prior Glacial Movements releases, Netherworld's Morketid and the Cryosphere compilation. In place of desolate, frozen tundra, we get celestial formations that drift through the empyrean in a beatific style that could make Marsen Jules jealous. Storey used tiny fragments of The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss (specifically, vinyl locked grooves lifted from the version included on the 1968 2001 soundtrack) as starting points which he then manipulated and re-arranged to form the hour-long disc's five settings. Though Rapoon's material may sound sonically different from his label predecessors (during the album's first half in particular), conceptually the release stays true to the label's ‘glacial and isolationist ambient' vision: Time Frost aurally documents the frozen preservation of cultural fragments during a new ice age and their eventual discovery and interpretation by future archaeologists.
In “Glacial Danube,” swooping choir-like tones pan from side to side amidst static and crackle, while immense waves of hazy strings swirl and shudder during the Gas-like “Thin Light.” Needless to say, such pieces, as effective as they may be, are dwarfed by the colossus “Ice Whispers” which spreads its glacial wings for thirty-four minutes. The piece's dark industrial-ambient style brings Time Frost closer in spirit to the label's signature style: winds howl, vaporous clouds billow, chains rattle, and sweeping spectral tones rise from subterranean chambers and cast vast shadows, plunging the terrain into near-darkness. As it advances towards its end, its epic quality diminishes, and the panning tones and crackle of “Glacial Danube” reappear, bestowing upon the release a satisfying unity. Time Frost is about as accomplished a piece of dark ambient as one might hope to find, something that, in itself, shouldn't surprise too much, given Storey's CV.December 2007