Genre/Influences: Cinematographic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Portuguese artist Pedro Pimentel strikes back with the fourth opus of his Wordclock project. The album comes four years after the last work “Heralds”. Pimentel again invited several guest musicians to complete the work and a few of them already contributed to the last album. Pedro Pimentel is taking care of the electronics, synths and plays different traditional instruments of European and Middle Eastern origin. Travis Laplante (US) plays saxophone, Amund Ulvestad (Norway) plays cello and did some vocals as well, Luis Neto (Portugal) plays percussion and George Shamanauri (Georgy) from Phonotek plays trumpet.

Content: The work is an evasive sonic voyage moving from dark and mysterious passages into smoother reverie driven by slow rhythms. You’ll notice a choir injecting a spiritual dimension to the work while some passages have something pretty jazzy-like.

+ + + : Wordclock remains an interesting project for its atypical approach. Pedro Pimentel holds on the mixture between electronics and sound manipulation at one side and the use of authentic instruments at the other side. It creates an authentic feeling, which is mainly emerging during the cello and trumpet play. “Beatific” is one of these tracks and an absolute masterpiece, which is accentuated by the melancholia of the cello sound. The trumpet also injects a higher dimension to the album, also creating this lazy, jazzy style.

– – – : I don’t have real minus points, but I’m sure this artist is still able to do better.

Conclusion: Wordclock remains an atypical project because of its authentic elements. This is my personal favorite Wordclock-production.

Best songs: “Beatific”, “Weighed Upon Us”, “By Becoming It”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/wordclock

Label: www.cryochamberlabel.com /  www.facebook.com/CryoChamber

About Wordclock

Wordclock is the dark ambient and cinematic project of Portuguese musician Pedro Pimentel. Discogs lists “Endless” in 2014 as the earliest entry, followed by the soundtrack “Noct (OST)” on Laced Records in 2015.

Cryo Chamber released the second album, “Self Destruction Themes”, in December 2015, and the video “A Lack of Language” appeared the same month. “Heralds” followed on the label. Pimentel also contributed to the Cryo Chamber Collaboration albums “Azathoth”, “Nyarlathotep”, “Yig” and “Dagon”.

“A Greater Bliss” was released by Cryo Chamber on 14 September 2021 in digital and CD formats. Pimentel handled composition, engineering, electronics, synths, santoor, saz, guitar and bass. Amund Ulvestad played cello and contributed voice, Travis Laplante played saxophone, Luis Neto played percussion and assisted with production, and George Shamanauri played trumpet. James Plotkin mastered the album, David Glomba supplied the artwork and Simon Heath designed the digipak.

The nine tracks are “By Becoming It”, “Meant”, “The Spirit Chokes”, “Weighed Upon Us”, “The Less of Me”, “Binding With Briars”, “Beatific”, “Unbecoming” and “Come, Triumph”.

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I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Ulvestad is a Norwegian solo-project driven by Amund Ulvestad. Cellist and composer. The musician already worked with other projects like Svartsinn and Wordclock. This debut album features four tracks inspired by ‘the misty and ethereal to an intensely physical, almost violent presence’.

Content: The sound universe of Ulvestad is created by dark and dreamy sound sculptures. Some passages are monotonous, this way accentuating the anguishing mood hanging over the work. The tracks are pretty extended, but have been progressively built up. The last track (cf. “Fall”) is going crescendo this way creating a sort of apotheosis. 

+ + + : The album first caught my attention by its simple, but intriguing cover. It perfectly fits the image of the dark-astral sonic trip created by the artist. We feel like embarking for an unknown place, but which from start on has something surprising. Crescendo constructed soundwaves are getting the listeners in their grip, which at the last track reaches an ultimate point of fear. 

– – – : Some passages are a little bit monotonous, which mainly comes through during the longest track (cf. “Aisling”), which is going over 15 minutes.

Conclusion: I can’t say I was totally convinced by this debut work of Ulvestad, but there are some interesting elements running through the production so I hope the best is yet to come…

Best songs: “Fall”, “Pan”.

Rate: (6½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/amund.ulvestad

Label: www.cycliclaw.com / www.facebook.com/cycliclaw

About Ulvestad

Ulvestad is the solo project of Norwegian cellist and composer Amund Ulvestad. Alongside his own work, Ulvestad collaborates as cellist and arranger with Svartsinn, the dark ambient project of Jan Roger Pettersen, and as cellist and string arranger with Wordclock, the ambient project of Portuguese composer Pedro Pimentel. “Fall,” his debut album under his own name, was released via Cyclic Law on November 27, 2020, in an edition of 300 copies on 6-panel digisleeve alongside a digital version on Bandcamp. The four tracks originate from ambient and textural works Ulvestad wrote for the theatre stage, later reworked into standalone compositions drawing on source material including Knut Hamsun’s “Pan,” the traditional Irish song “Aisling Gheal,” and contemporary texts on death and Norse ideas of youth. This review covers that same “Fall” release.

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Genre/Influences: Minimal dark-ambient, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Pedro Pimentel better known as the operator behind Wordclock has released his third solo-work. It’s not exactly a solo-album properly speaking as he got the help from Amund Ulvestad (cello, electronics), Nuno Craveiro (nyckelharpa) and
George Shmanauri involved with Phonotek (trumpet). Pedro Pimentel collected field recordings recorded during walks through Porto, London and Berlin while recording acoustic instruments as well.
Content: “Heralds” is a styled work, which remains driven by dark-ambient atmospheres, but still with a more intimate approach. That’s an essential aspect of the work, which has been created by the play of acoustic instruments. The cello is quite important, creating a dark and somewhat depressed sensation. The harp brings some enlightenment while the icy trumpet resonates as a warning throughout this mysterious sound universe. Industrial crashes and piano treatments both achieve the composition.

+ + + : I like the dark-ambient projects merging electronics and field recordings together with real acoustic/traditional instruments. Phonotek is one of those bands I especially like for this authentic approach, but that’s exactly what you can experience on “Heralds” as well. It creates a dark reverie, somewhat cinematographic like and accomplished with a perfect balance between electronics and real instruments. The cello and trumpet both are perfect instruments for this kind of experiments.

– – – : Some passages are a little bit monotonous, but globally speaking you don’t hear me complaining. I would have liked to get more input from the acoustic instruments, which would have reinforced the authentic character of the work.

Conclusion: I can’t say that “Heralds” sounds atypical, but it clearly is a somewhat different and original exposure from what dark-ambient music can be. This album has something intimate and definitely artistic.

Best songs: “Beatrice’s Euphoria”, “Bell Ringing II”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/wordclock

Label: www.cryochamberlabel.com /  www.facebook.com/CryoChamber

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Background/Info:

Read the news on ‘Mørkets Variabler’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Read the review of ‘Mørkets Variabler’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Pedro Pimentel aka Wordclock returns to Cryo Chamber with his 2nd album, “Self Destruction Themes“, after having spent the early year working with Nine Inch Nails’ Robert Finck on the “NOCT” soundtrack.

As a contrast to that guitar focused work, with “Self Destruction Themes” he instead goes in another direction with the help from Amund Ulvestad’s cello performances, Simon Heath’s textural piano work (on the track “Something More”) and Apocryphos’ atmospheric distortion layers (on the track “Here we’ll be gone”).

Says the label: “This is a massive album of cold but inviting atmospheres, filtered noise, acoustic layering and sweeping textural layers. The sad theme throughout the album paints images of a world depopulated and of overgrown and dilapidated cityscapes.”

The album is out now, both on CD and as HQ download via Cryo Chamber’s Bandcamp page. Note that you can also get this new release together with “Endless” in a 2CD bundle at a discounted price.

You can preview the 10-track release “Self Destruction Themes” below.

And here’s the official video for “Here we’ll be Gone” featuring Apocryphos.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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