The Moon as a Hole is a collaboration of two ambient/drone veterans from the UK, Ian Holloway (Psychic Space Invasion) and Darren Tate (Ora). It was released by Tate's own Fungal label, in a limited edition of 120. The presentation of this album is somewhat unremarkable (only a printed CD-R and a glittery paper in a sleeve), which is a pity, because this is actually a very interesting album, full of excellent dark ambiences and drones.

The four untitled tracks span over almost an hour worth of detailed soundscapes, filled with subtle sounds and samples. The first and longest track mixes a deep drone with bright bird samples, chimes and other scintillating sounds. The result is something like a mixture of more traditional waving dark ambient and the more organic works of projects like Alphane Moon and Blodeuedd. The subtle development makes it constant yet varied throughout its length. The same goes for the second track, which is slightly darker than the first, combining a sad, repetitive dark wave (which reminds me of Kammarheit's style) with various sounds, such as wooden chimes and manipulated spacy effects. The third track is relatively short, but it consists of a very interesting and dense blend of chimes, bells, drones, guitar and noisy outbursts. The final track is based upon a flowing, mid-tone drone, interspersed with various tones, sounds and strange effects, lending the whole a surreal effect.

Thus, despite a rather unimpressive look, this release holds some very fine dark ambient music, that combines elements from various areas of the genre (organic, spacy, minimalist) into an excellent whole. So good that I actually believe a more ambitious presentation and release would do this album a lot of good, and might have pushed the mark a bit higher, too. These top-notch soundscapes are deserving of an extensive visual accompanyment and broader audience. One of the best new ambient releases I've heard this year, surely.

O.S.