Simon Scott – Below Sea Level

The best album I discovered in 2013. Perfect.

I am camping by a marshland. Sounds of birds, insects and frogs fill up the landscape with their endless foreign conversations. What else are they saying that we can not hear? I am sitting by a fire, an engine passes by, and Simon Scott is playing his guitar. From simple and gentle strumming to his signature hazed out reverberations, the tones blend in a pastel palette of ambiance, organic in every small step of the way. The field recordings barely dominate the soundscape, asking the listener to move in closer. The presence of nature throughout the album shrouds the elegant atmospherics into one sonic ecosphere. And Simon Scott plays on…

Below Sea Level is Scott’s fifth solo album, and it’s his first for Taylor Deupree‘s 12k label. In a way, that alone is somewhat of an accomplishment, in my humble opinion, because that’s where Scott belongs. The relationship of music with nature has been previously examined throughout the label’s vast catalog, and Scott adds another notch to the label’s exquisite roster of artists. The seven tracks on the album explore the “desolate and controversial environment” of the Fens in East Anglia, UK. This place, visited by Scott as a child, is captured with hydrophones, custom-built recording devices, and synthesized sounds. These textured layers were recorded throughout two years, as Scott returned to the former wetlands to probe inner memories for “nostalgic familiarity”. These lands are indeed below the sea level, from which the title of the album is derived.

The release is accompanied with an 80-page color hardcover journal which includes an essay, “Exploration of the Subterranean Fenland Environment”, written by Simon Scott. Besides the notes and sketches, the booklet comes with photography from the area. The entire package demonstrates the artist’s dedication to the subject matter, explored through a diverse medium – yet another reason why this album must be owned as a physical copy. While you’re browsing around the 12k shop, I suggest you drop in your cart a copy of Kane Ikin‘s Sublunar and Taylor Deupree‘s Faint. And don’t forget to check out Scott’s Navigare (Miasmah, 2009) and Silenne (Slaapwel, 2010). Definitely recommended for fans of Marcus Fischer, Pillowdiver, and Richard Skelton.

FLUID RADIO (UK)
"...He has finally reached back to this sort of seminal moment where he was at one with the world, simply inhabiting the moment."

THE MILK FACTORY (UK)
"Scott builds particularly striking soundscapes here."

THE POST ROCK (DE)
"Ein filigranes Zusammenspiel von Natur und Technik trifft hier zusammen."

LEND ME YOUR EARS (BLOG)
"A stand-out album of glowingly warm, densely textured excursions into landscape & memory."

CHAIN D.L.K. (.COM)
"A sort of osmosis between acousmatic pastorale and lively natural elements."

TEXTURA (.ORG)
"He has granted access to what for many will be a new locale and provided enlightenment about its dramatic history."

EXPERIMEDIA (US)
"The album's seven tracks form a seamless and coherent narrative of carefully sculpted motifs."

BRAINWASHED (.COM)
"The sound of 1990s shoegaze dissembled into its most rudimentary components."

GO MAG (ES)
"El talento se le intuía, en fin, pero todavía faltaba por llegar su gran disco, esa obra que confirmara definitivamente su posición entre los grandes del ambient. Y ese disco es Below sea level."

AMBIENT EXOTICA (.COM)
"Scott’s devotion to this project results in a fantastic journey through the Fenlands of England."

MONSIEUR DELIRE (FR)
"Delicate tracks featuring fine interactions between instrument (mostly electric guitar) and digital treatments."

MUSIC WON'T SAVE YOU (IT)
"Ed è proprio questa coniugazione tra nostalgia rurale e contenuto umano a riempire di pathos “Below Sea Level”, elevandone il fascino e l’impronta emotiva ben al di sopra della media delle tante produzioni elettro-acustiche e ambientali."

WAJOBU (.COM)
"Simon Scott has given us a great gift—finding music in nature."

CHRONIQUES ELECTRONIQUES (FR)
"Simon Scott réalise ici un chef d'oeuvre indispensable de musique exigeante. Une seule écoute au casque pour se faire piquer. Des centaines à venir pour y puiser d'innombrables trésors et détails cachés. Bien au delà d'une convenue recommandation. "

Reviews taken from: http://www.12k.com/index.php/site/reviews_all/below_sea_level