Hammock – Kenotic (2005/2015) {10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition} [FLAC 24bit/44.1kHz]

Hammock’s debut release. Now expanded & remastered. Hailed for its emotional resonance & masterful melding of ambient shoegaze & electronic. Broad washes of crystalline guitar tones and gently pulsating synths convey a sense of broadness and space. This is not simple drone music; it’s complex sophisticated & dense but it’s also not alienating pseudo-intellectual or moribund… Hammock make music that is filled with human emotion & passion.

Hammock’s debut, Kenotic, is in every way a contender for classic status in the shoegazing genre. Expertly merging ambient guitar drone (think Bowery Electric), electronic beats (think Boards of Canada), and live instrumentation (the violin on “Blankets of Night”). Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson craft a 70-minute sound sculpture, a paean to the beauty inherent in the drone. By turns smooth and expansive, then chiming and circular, Kenotic has excellent sequencing, with moods of tension and relaxation blending together into a perfect evocation of an afternoon drifting in a vast ocean, looking skyward. The music flows in a manner evoking a slow-moving river on a winter day. A notable exception to this is the uptempo (for Hammock) “Wish,” falling at the mid-point of the album, which focuses your attention and re-energizes it. The album art and song titles, (“Overcast/Sorrow” “Stars in the Rearview Mirror.” “The Silence”), along with the mood of the music suggest isolation in nature, but their message is not one of sadness, but of timeless, serene joy. The few people that will find this record will cherish it as something special, similar to One Mile North’s Glass Wars.

Tracklist:
01 – Before the Celebration
02 – The Air Between Us
03 – Through a Glass Darkly
04 – Blankets of Night
05 – Winter Light
06 – Miles to Go Before Sleep
07 – Wish
08 – Overcast / Sorrow
09 – Glacial
10 – Kenotic
11 – Stars in the Rearview Mirror
12 – You May Emerge From This More Dead Than Alive
13 – What Heaven Allows
14 – The Silence
15 – Dawn Begins to Creep
16 – Rising Tide
17 – Always Wishing You Were Somewhere Else [2004 Kenotic Sessions (Alternate Mix), Bonus Track]
18 – Turning to Stone [2004 Kenotic Sessions, Bonus Track]
19 – Last Horizon [2004 Kenotic Sessions, Bonus Track]
20 – Departure [2004 Kenotic Sessions, Bonus Track]
21 – Frailty [2004 Kenotic Sessions, Bonus Track]
22 – Storm Sets In [2004 Kenotic Sessions, Bonus Track]
23 – Underneath the Skin [2004 Kenotic Sessions, Bonus Track]