Kettel – Volleyed Iron

I wish I could put my feelings for the journey this album takes me on into words now as I listen to it yet another time. An outstanding work.

'The world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes, does it?' - this sample is from the excellent film, Memento

This album will shatter your soul into a thousand pieces. Beware.

Beware to those who listen to this masterpiece with their hearts. It's a long journey... perhaps with no return.
I remember that I kept listening to these breathing, melancholic melodies when my soulmate left me, and tears dropped like autumn rain.
Buy it if you want to feel the pain in beauty, and the beauty of pain.

Potent and graceful, Kettel achieves an arresting sound that heightens the senses. The music is meditative and beautiful; darker, brooding, and contemplative. Firmly ambient electronica in style, but sometimes flirting with classical sensibilities. Thoughtful instrumentation and a refreshing use of sampling.

There are fleeting glimpses of brilliance here, as if capturing and distilling the essence of great, evocative musics: The second movement of Vivaldi's Gloria or a Chopin impromptu come to mind.

It would keep fine company with Akira Rabelais's Eisoptrophobia, Helios's Eingya, darker moments of Boards of Canada, and Biosphere's Substrata.

Simply beautiful. Ambient sounds intertwined with haunting classical piano, long flowing synths and all the time the comforting sound of life going on around you. Sometimes noticable as the chatter of people, at other times barely heard except for the faint sound of a car in the distance.

'The world just dosen't disappear when you close your eyes, does it?' says a sample at the end of track 4. One could not agree more. No matter where you are, the stresses in life will never leave. Thoughts will be constantly racing through your head every moment. Even sitting down on a wooden dock on a lake side during sunset, something will always be there to bother you.

Every track in this album is mellow, tranquil, and serene, yet there are distractions throughout. Sounds of people, subways, children, wind, leafs...yet with all these so called distractions, the album is still entrancing. You listen, but are reminded of the aberrations we face day in and day out, consciously and subconsciously. Whether or not this was the theme Reimer was going for, it is all I could think of while listening to this. Beauty mixed with beast.

Volleyed Iron is quite a minimalistic album. Not minimalistic as in the 'style' of music, but it is very minimal. It is on the verge of being total ambience, yet some how isn't. The many layers of sound grab your attention, tossing you into a meditative state of mind, waking you up with the bits of reality still present in the music. It is quite a journey through sound.

The beauty of the music, along with the cover art make for a really beautiful album. It would fit well in a Baraka type film. Volleyed Iron has stood at the top of my CD piles for quite some time.