Aidan Baker - The Sea Swells A Bit...

The Sea Swells a Bit is a three song album released on A Silent Place. Its title track starts out with a dark and simplistic guitar chord pattern, but evolves into something decidedly more sinister as it progresses.

It is an extraordinarily sprawling work – this song alone is just hits above the twenty one minute mark. Soon, a drum set emerges into existence to compliment its other musical counterpart.

All the while, highly processed ambient pads increase in volume while simultaneously another effect, echos — are being applied to the draining guitar work. Its intensity ever increasing, the song becomes an icy, out-of-focus journey until its completion.

And that’s only the first song!

“When Sailors Die” is a slightly less of an epic adventure as its predecessor track, which is not to say it’s bad by any means: it starts out almost immediately into a bass driven, light drum work-fueled song; a real pleasant experience listening to.

All of these tracks really capture what the album’s title conveys. Recommended for those who enjoy the sounds of thisquietarmy, Tim Hecker, Nadja, and other slow, “drenchingly heavy” music.

A wholly fantastic release. If you like this, check out Green & Cold, released on Gears of Sand in 2007.