Field Recordings: Abbé Brémond Ensemble

Field Recordings: Abbé Brémond Ensemble - Clausura (2017)

67 / 100

Clausura works as an experimental soundscape, closer to environmental art than music. It succeeds in creating atmosphere of furniture music alike.

After ten years of silence, Abbé Brémond Ensemble returned with Without Words in early 2017, followed by Clausura on August 30. This release is filled with field recordings that are not easy to describe from the start.

Behind this project, Ká uses silence to create the still atmosphere of a monastic cell that may appear monotonous, but to him, it becomes the echo of the world. The result is minimalist sounds, modified and layered, resembling rain mixed with repetitive wind gusts, also forming a dark ambient wave with touches of noise and field recordings. For some listeners, it may indeed feel monotonous or dull, but that is precisely where its appeal lies. This work exists more as atmosphere than as conventional music.

Listening to it is closer to observing a natural phenomenon: simple, repetitive, but textured—able to be soothing yet also tiresome. Clausura might be most suitable for fans of ASMR, dark ambient, or anyone who seeks a kind of relaxation space.

Personally, however, Clausura does not make it into my playlist, even though it has a clearer sonic presence from the very beginning compared to December by December, which misled me with its contrasting output—promising the feel of snowfall but sounding instead like rain later.

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