Album: In two seas
Label: Self Released
Genre: Ambient, Drone
Mario Grönnert is an ambient musician based in Quedlinburg, a small town in the center of Germany. During eight years, he worked with the progressive rock band Aera where he learned to play guitar and bass. The man also has two records released by CongaRecords under his belt. For this short album (36 minutes), he decided to work with Mondfish, a Japanese duo of ambient music composers.
The work of both artists are surprising similar in tone, mixing lush pads with pianos and guitars to create very relaxing and meditative tracks. The first piece of the album, « Of departures », sets the tone for the whole album : synthesizers and electric pianos play together in what we can call new age music, while the notes comes slowly and the beat is absent, we're definitely in ambient territory. If you listen to this album expecting experimental drones, you might be disappointed. The drone part of the music is very light and ethereal. Don't expect any deep low-ends and experimental drone action here, In two seas is closer in style to new age than dark ambient. The approach to the genre is very conventional here, and that's bit of a problem.
While the album is definitely well done and superbly produced, I can't help but feel there's a lack of originality to the whole work. The tracks from both artists are hardly distinguishable from one to the other, which is strange, and the track's structures are very similar too. Only on the Mondfish tracks we can hear short burst of white noise here and there combined with a (well played) guitar, underlining the experimental side of their personalities. But it's not enough to help us differentiate one artist from the other. For this reason, none of the tracks really standout.
As a whole, In two seas couldn't be more coherent and homogeneous. However, the sound production is top notch and the music has a calming effect. If you're looking for ambient music that is on a middle ground between drone and new age, Mario Grönnert and Mondfish offer the goods. Otherwise, it might be a too safe album to really stand out from the crowd.
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