Erang ~ Tome II (album review) ... Casting the ancient spells!

Style: ambient, experimental, instrumental
Label: self-released
Year: 2012
Home: n/a

Members: n/a ~ keyboards

In 2012 the mysteriously vague one-man outing Erang, whose location I've been asked to keep private ... only to say its far from me, maybe even not of this planet & time ... released two albums in 2012, a self-titled release in the summer & then in October Tome II. "A nostalgic journey..." & "the journey continues" are the only information given out about these two online only releases. As should be obvious, they're not two releases but two parts to a long story drawing from Lord of the Rings & Dungeons & Dragons mythology, or more properly imagery, now put into an instrumental keyboard realm. Tome II opens with "Casting The Ancient Spell Again" going into "The Dark Dungeon", though this might be a psychological dungeon, onto a journey down the road into a frozen forest & crystal cave ... in true Lord Of The Rings fashion ... to eventually come dancing with evil souls & dead oracles amongst ruins of a lost underwater kingdom, only to end with a vague ending that may appear someone joyful on the surface but under it lurks something that is neither good nor bad. But, as for what the ending really is, Erang is good about keeping it a secret - even in e-mails to me - leaving it to the listener to interpret this second part of the Erang journey. Much like the first album the music is simple keyboard lines, often heavily repetitive, that slowly float past with little flourish over layers charting out a fairly somber almost sad path. But, though the two releases are obvious musical companion pieces, Tome II has its own personality and some differences, including less layers, much more repetition (i.e. "The Road Goes Ever On"), less Middle Ages-esque melody lines using horn sounds ... though "Dancing With An Evil Soul" comes close ... & generally is much more somber. The first Erang album had its share of upbeat moments in lullabies, wizards & mystical nights. But, here the journey is full on & its not necessarily the fun part of the journey, but a journey into darkness & fear, the Indiana Jones discovery type of fear. Though, having said this, there is a momentary bounce with "People Of The Crystal Cave", but its a lull before the story's storm. In terms of musical diversity Erang's self-titled debut has more ... though this album has some very strong diverse moments (i.e. "The Last Of My Name", "Epilogue" & "Ruins Of A Lost Underwater Kingdom") ... but in terms of moodiness & a more cohesive theme, let alone just stronger compositions Tome II is the sign of a musician whose reigned in some excesses & refocused some energy to a great result. Let alone, personally I just find this part of the story more visual & in turn mysteriously. There's just something about an underwater kingdom, you know ...

Erang ~ Erang (aka debut) (album review) ... A nostalgic journey!

Style: ambiant, experimental, instrumental
Label: self-released
Year: 2012
Home: n/a

Members: n/a ~ keyboards

"A nostalgic journey..." was the super brief & mysterious bit of PR sent to me recently from Erang about its 2012 self-titled album, the first of two 2012 releases by this one man band. The Erang journey continues with a follow-up a couple months later called Tome II. Tome is a more proper title for these two online only releases, the new trend with indie musicians including myself. These are truly tomes of mini-stories through instrumental keyboard music of simple weaving lines & heavy hit notes. They're fairy tales of another world & another time with wizards, horse riders, mystical nights & songs & dreams ending with a sit down by the dark river. Dungeons & Dragons & Lord Of The Rings & the mysteries of those mythological medieval worlds inspire Erang's musical storytelling. Though, if the dark river is a beginning or an end, I'll let your ears decide. Certainly, that's the way Erang wants it. The music is fairly simple of melodic keyboard lines & light harmonic touches. It's never too cluttered & even when more than a handful of layers enter (for example, "No Apprentice This Year!") they float in & none of them are rushing around blurring any other line. Both albums are very much in the same mold. While the name tome may speak of its thematic nature, the similar sounding tone poem also is a good descriptor to use. I'm reminded a bit of Burzum's two prison albums of synthesizers, but only a bit, as this isn't dark & messed up & full of the turmoil that those were. Those two albums were musical torment, while this is truly a musical journey with moments of dancing elves with their accordions & medieval soundscapes. Though, it's more than just a moody soundscape, as is often the case with albums of this nature, but the tracks do weave into each other sounding like thirteen scenes of a play. Though, part of it is because a majority of songs hang around two minutes, thus while they don't feel fragmentary they also aren't expanded in great directions ... the cohesive hole is the expansion.