Taphephobia – Blue Hour (Album – Cyclic Law)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Cinematographic.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: “Blue Hour” is the eighth studio album by the Norwegian Ketil Søraker under the Taphephobia moniker. The work is ‘based upon personal emotional states and reflections of both the immediate environment and far reaching ‘outer’ world’
Content: Taphephobia creates a sonic universe, which has something intimate and clearly reflecting a dense Ambient sound creation. You feel absorbed by an invisible force leading you into a spiral of angst. The dark sound treatments and overwhelming noise waves have been progressively built up while some rare spoken words are accentuating the frightening experience of listening.
+ + + : I like this album for its sonic duality, which rapidly seems to be a fusion between relaxing passages and anguished parts. Taphephobia brings some diversity to the Cyclic Law roster, which is mainly dominated by poignant Dark-Ambient productions. The cinematographic side of this album is easily noticeable, creating a dense and obscure sonic wall. The opening cut “Soothsayer” is a perfect illustration of this approach, but I can also mention “Flashlights”, which sounds like a suffocating abyssal trip. “Never To Be Found” is my favorite cut for having an extra dark dimension built up with boiling sound treatments.
– – – : The tracks are pretty similar to each other so I’m missing a bit variety in the composition process.
Conclusion: Taphephobia is a dark music journey leading you to an inner exploration.
Best songs: “Never To Be Found”, “Soothsayer”, “Flashlights”.
Rate: (7½).
Artist: http://taphephobia.nattenshimmel.no / www.facebook.com/Taphephobia-196425420397858
Label: www.cycliclaw.com / www.facebook.com/cycliclaw
About Taphephobia
Taphephobia is the solo dark ambient and drone project of Norwegian musician Ketil Søraker, based in Trondheim. Working mainly with manipulated guitars and field recordings, Søraker released the albums “House Of Memories” and “Anomie” in 2007, “Black City Skyline” in 2009, “Access To A World Of Pain” in 2010, “Counting The Days” in 2011, the self-titled “Taphephobia” in 2012, “Escape From The Mundane Self” in 2013 and “Ghostwood” in 2018 via Cyclic Law. “Blue Hour”, released in 2021, is his eighth full-length album under the Taphephobia name.
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