Dead Melodies & Zenjungle – Anthropocene (Album – Cryo Chamber)
Genre/Influences: Cinematographic.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: This album is the meeting between Tom Moore (Dead Melodies) and Phil Gardelis (Zenjungle). British project Dead Melodies is a familiar artist from the Cryo Chamber roster while Zenjungle is a Greek artist who’s mainly involved in ambient and jazz productions. He’s playing saxophone and clarinet, but still guitar.
Content: This album features an inhibited sphere created by electronic sound layers and field recordings while reinforced by the warm, yet mysterious sound of the saxophone. It feels a bit like the offspring between two different worlds, but in the end it all resulted in a truly sonic symbiosis. It’s a total cinematographic music trip, which however reveals dark passages.
+ + + : I’m probably too often linking saxophones with jazz music while it of course is an instrument that is featured in different genres. It’s not that usual to hear a saxophone used on dark-ambient/cinematic music, but it creates a delicious and wafting sensation on this album. Both artists have created an intimated sphere where you sometimes even get the impression of becoming a voyeur. The tracks are somewhat enigmatic, but also tickling our fantasy to dive into an imaginary world. “Anthropocene” is made of darkness getting the listener into a relaxing mood.
– – – : The album features five cuts, which unfortunately all sound pretty similar.
Conclusion: This album totally fits the cinematic roster of Cryo Chamber although it injects some diversity in its global approach. I can only encourage both artists to renew this experience.
Best songs: “Wisp”, “Where Demons Sleep”, “The Book”.
Rate: (7½).
Artists: www.facebook.com/thedeadmelodies / http://zenjunglemusic.com /
www.facebook.com/zenjungleMusic
Label: www.cryochamberlabel.com / www.facebook.com/CryoChamber
About Dead Melodies & Zenjungle
Dead Melodies is the dark ambient project of UK-based musician Tom Moore. Moore has recorded electronic music since 2006, first under the project Indigolab, before shifting focus to ambient music in late 2014. He also records as the ambient post-rock act Understated Theory. Dead Melodies debuted on Cryo Chamber with “Legends of the Wood” in 2017, his third ambient full length overall.
Zenjungle is the ambient, drone and dark jazz project of Greek musician Phil Gardelis, based in Athens. Discogs lists releases including “Inner Orbits” (2012), “Leaving Stations” and “A Changing Light” (both 2014), “My Childhood Is My Only Homeland” (2015) and “We Are Not Here” (2016, Midira Records).
“Anthropocene”, released in 2020 on Cryo Chamber, is the pair’s first collaborative album, pairing Moore’s field recordings and soundscapes with Gardelis’s saxophone and clarinet.
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