No Xivic- Uneksija

Artist: No Xivic
CD Title: Uneksija
Label: Onyxia
Reviewer: Matthew Johnson
Date: 4/23/06

No Xivic is the alter ego of Finnish composer Henkka Kyllönen, a multi-instrumentalist with fourteen years of classical music training. His first release for new experimental label Onyxia is an exploration of deep, dark ambient moods, bearing no small resemblance to a number of artists on the Cold Meat Industry label. The aptly-titled "Gloom," for example, is full of endless abyssal echoes, while "Glycerine Tears" employs industrial-tinged metallic rattles and soft white noise. More interesting are pieces that hint at the composer's classical influences; rather than going all out and doing symphonic arrangements in the vein of Tony Wakeford's L'Orchestre Noir project, No Xivic keeps the hints of chamber music extremely low-key. The exquisitely drawn-out "Kosteus," for example, lets a short snippet of piano, so brief you wonder afterward if it was really there at all, emerge in the midst of a sixteen-minute passage of understated sonic fuzz and sustained bass drones. "Unipuu" employs bits of distant operatic vocals and faint woodwind-like tones buried deep within the echoes and reverberations of countless effects pedals in an effect reminiscent of Robert Rich's more eerie musical meditations. Even the more formulaic pieces are remarkably unsettling; "Pinch Me Darling," in particular, full of slowly wavering synthesizers and creepy chiming, is like the sonic equivalent of standing at the edge of a bottomless pit. With over seventy minutes of music, this is more than worth your time if you're a fan of such artists as Raison D'être or early Desiderii Marginis.

Visit www.onyxia.org for more information on this release.