Released by: Cyclic Law
Release year: 2002
Format: CD/Art
Tracklist:
1: Untitled 06:09
2: Untitled 07:38
3: Untitled 07:27
4: Untitled 05:55
5: Untitled 03:12
6: Untitled 06:33
7: Untitled 05:42
8: Untitled 06:13
9: Untitled 04:28
10: Untitled 07:07
Total Length: 59:24 min
General facts:
This is Canadian collaborative project between the composer Frédéric Arbour (Instincts) and the artist Yvan Arseneault (Bustum). Instincts is responsible for the music while Bustum has created the sleeve artwork and a set of cards that comes with this release. Frédéric is responsible for some of the pictures however. The Mystery Visions is limited to 1000 copies.
Review:
Those who heard Instincts on the nice Nord Ambient Alliance know what to expect. This is melancholic music centred around very simple melodies that paints pictures of grey days and autumn decay. Instincts music is beautiful in a sombre, isolated way, sort of like the early works of Mortiis, yet with distinct similarities in sound. Still, both acts share(d) a sound that invokes memories of times passed, portions of life that have been reduced to vague memories, swept away in the ever-passing flood of time. Instincts is far from a Mortiis clone however. I think the sound of this project is more or less unique, at least I don't recognise it. Yet sometimes it do remind a bit of old melodic raison d'être or Shinjuku Thief. If you are into minimalistic melodic music with a dark and melancholic mood, Instinct may be your next stop.
The artwork that comes with this release is very surrealistic. There seem to be a lot of symbolism confined within the art of Bustum, mainly from the 'death' or 'negative' realm. For example there are pictures of decaying landscapes, skulls, up-side-down humans, men cloaked in black (or white), a black sun with a twisted face and snakes slithering out of it instead of sun-rays. I think Bustum has done a magnificent job enriching this release with some really obscure art to contemplate on while listening to the dark tunes of Instincts. There is a certain syntony between the creations of the two artists which justify this collaboration. This is definitiely a release worth checking out.
Ectonaut
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Five questions to Instincts
ECTONAUT: Please introduce your project to the Ortus Obscurum readers. For how long have you been doing this and for what reason?
FRÈDÈRIC: Well, I started this solo "project" which I named INSTINCTS in 1997. There's no specific "reason" for Instincts, it just happened...
ECTONAUT: Tell us something about the tracks on the reviewed release. Did you work with specific methods when you composed them? Is there a concept behind this release or anything else interesting that you think we should know about this release?
FRÈDÈRIC: Well the only pecular thing would be that it was all composed on a Korg N364 workstation and then transfered to a computer where drums, guitars and samples were added before the final mix. The concept developed into a joining of my music and the visual art of a good friend of mine aka BUSTUM. The release contains a 10 song CD and 12 duotone cards of collages by Bustum and and 3 cards of Photographs of mine.
ECTONAUT: How would you describe your music to completely new listeners? Do you feel that your project belongs to a certain genre? Are there any bands that you think you can relate to soundwise and conceptwise?
FRÈDÈRIC: Dark Neo Classical Ambient would be a good description for the music on this CD. It does belong to a certain genre as I'm well immersed in todays Dark Ambient / Neo Classical / Industrial scene. Soundwise I've been compared to early day Cold Meat Industry releases and I can't deny that this era did inspire me musically.
ECTONAUT: What is most important in music according to you? How do you define quality music and what are your musical influences?
FRÈDÈRIC: Well, emotion and vision, when a certain mood or meaning is being expressed and when I can "see" things while listening to a certain kind of music, thatto me is a sign of quality. My inspirations rather that influences are based in the contemplation of nature and it's cycles and as mentioned above my base for my chosen sound has evolved from my interest in Dark Ambient music.
ECTONAUT: What plans do you have for the future? Are there any new releases planned? Anything else you would like to add?
FRÈDÈRIC: I am working on new material for an upcomming full lenght and I'm also finishing 2 tracks for a possible split 10" with Sorgeist to be released on HauRuck! in 2003. I'm also the person behind the Cyclic Law label, more information on our activities can be found at http://www.cycliclaw.com
The official Instincts website is at http://www.cycliclaw.com/instincts.html
Thank you for your interest Ectonaut and long live Ortus Obscurum!
sincerely, Frederic.
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- Click here to enter the Instincts website
- Click here to enter the Bustum website
- Click here to contact Instincts