The Ontology of Noise

Ontology: the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence — quote the dictionary. "The Ontology of Noise explores the filmic qualities of noise — the image-creating mechanisms that arise almost hallucinogenically from subtle variations of frequences" — quote the liner notes. Add to this particular choice of album title and to the short but academic-sounding liner notes track titles like "Process Philosophy," "Semantic Shift," and "Space-Time Continuum," and what you get comes close to a lecture, a lecture on "the dark associations of post-black metal," if we are to believe the liner notes, again. Nana April Jun is a moniker used by one Christofer Lämgren. His first CD for Touch is an interesting foray into ambient noise, but you definitely have to ignore the critical apparatus it comes wrapped into. Don't get fooled by the "post-black metal" tag either, and don't try to tie the music to the concepts, because it doesn't really work. The Ontology of Noise may very well have been a PhD thesis project, which would make it a piece of conceptual art, but it can easily be approached as sound art or ambient noise music, akin to the works of Francisco López, B.J. Nilsen, Z'ev, or Guus Jensen. The album lasts a little over 35 minutes and, within that duration, offers five abstract textural pieces. Some, like "Sun Wind Darkness Eye," play on subtle shifts in a static setting, while others (like the opener "The One Substance" and "Process Philosophy") are more dynamic. Sound materials seem bare (one source per track, perhaps) but extensively treated to let their inner cycles come to the fore. It's nothing particularly new by 2009 standards, but it makes a convincing first effort. ~ François Couture, Rovi