It should be the case that if you look up the word tranquillity online it will provide you a link to Andy Aquarius’s website. Since I first heard the transfixing album Chapel I have been drinking in his music like someone in the desert coming across an oasis. Aquarius’s harp playing is sublime and manages to convey timelessness and a sense of place. In the way that Llyn Y Cwn captures the feeling of ancient monolithic stones on albums such as Megaliths so Andy Aquarius is able to convey a sense of the numinous feeling of nature. If you listen to his woodland improvisations on Forest Grimoire it’s hard not to believe he is an antennae tuning into nature.
On Schlafes Bruder (‘Brother of Sleep’) he has collaborated with Kimi Recor, a Berlin-based sonic artist, sound therapist, and educator. Together they say their collaboration “breaks open an immemorial portal that both these odd individuals wouldn’t have been able to access or fathom on their own.” All the tracks are built on drones that underpin harp and voice like primeval noises emanating from ancient caves. From the sound of a didgeridoo to the Shruti box of Indian Classical Music the drone fosters a sense of dark peace and allows for voice and harp to drift over and through like they are dancing on mist. On the short opening track ‘Iron Hum’ we hear Recor’s voice humming a tune until halfway through the harp comes in echoing the melody and elevating everything.
On ‘Back To The Fire’ we get a sorrowful vocal line that sings “And these dark waters call me home. Far from the shore where I have grown. Back to the fire where I belong. Oh will you mourn me when I’m gone?” This is made even more poignant when the harp repeats the phrase in between the verses. Recor’s voice is clear as mountain air so when it is joined by Andy Aquarius unison singing at his lowest register it feels like the earth and sky are duetting.
There is Celtic mysticism in the instrumental ‘Inner Sanctum’ and the translated title track ‘Brother of Sleep’ demonstrates how Andy Aquarius can create waves of glissandos that ripple like water. The final track is ‘Grey Havens’ that acts as a haunting reminder of the album’s beginning, a transcendent coda to send us off in a peaceful haze like smoke leaving a fire into the night sky.
Andy Aquarius – Celtic Harp, Voice, Synth
Kimi Recor – Voice, Monochord
Andy Aquarius: Instagram | Facebook | Website
Kim Recor: Instagram | Website | Substack
Review by Paul F Cook
Keep up to date with all new content on Joyzine via our
Facebook | Bluesky | Instagram | Threads | Mailing List