Online Magazine/Heathen Harvest
November Növelet "Magic"
I think that Galakthorrë label, started back in 1993, has no need to be presented to admirers of industrial and post-industrial music. Certainly such name as Haus Arafna rings a bell. November Növelet is another result of Mr. and Mrs. Arafna’s artistic collaboration, as well as the label itself. The music is different this time but the general mood and the process of perception seemed to me quite the same.
Galakthorrö is the label that pays much attention to production of the CDs it issues. This way "Magic" appeared to be a Digipack in black as a dominant colour and a few droplets of white, red and blue/grey featured on the small photos included. I really enjoyed the Booklet that contains all the lyrics (which sadly you usuall can hardly find in the booklets nowadays) and a diagram-picture on the middle pages of the booklet showing different objects situated on the circles that are on a different distance away from the central circle with the name of the band – NN. Magic was issued in two ways – a usual unlimited serie and limited to 721 hand-numbered copy, a fine article for collectors.
Magic. Indeed. Sounds different from track to track, but what units them all is a constant feeling of being close to revieling a mystery. Sounds evil, as if something is softly and quietly approaching you from the back and you have this everlasting wish to turn fast in order to stop this unknown creature attempting to approach you. I would call November Növelet a softer part of Haus Arafna. As I already said the general impression, the mood is the same (I’d call it a sound-terror in a way, after listening to this album it is quite difficult to come back to normal life), just the way of expression is different. "Magic" is built on minimalism, 8-bit transparent sounds, mystic synth passages and deep vocals of Mrs. Arafna. If compared to, for example, 1999’s From Heaven On Earth album, the sound became a bit softer, more danceable and variable. Maybe it even became more listenable, because the album of 1999 makes me think rather to ambient music than to darkwave. For those who gave a listen to "From Heaven On Earth" album, tracks on Magic sound more like Initially (Bluish Eyes). In Magic NN showed that one doesn’t have to use extreme sounding as shock tactics to influence the listener’s imagination and whole condition, because this calm, pulsating morbid sounds we hear on NN’s “Magic” do it all really well. This minimalism made me think to such acts as Geneviève Pasquier or Dogpop.
I would like to mark out the track with the same title as the album itself – Magic. It is situated in the middle of the album and became a logical middle, culmination for me too. Very intense, even dancable in some way, it seemed to me the most strained of all, making one to concentrate. As if all the energy and idea of the album wad accumulated in this particular track.del.
ZG
[Heathen Harvest : March 15.2008]
www.heathenharvest.com
////////
