Minced
Oath: Supercede (Countersunk)

I’ve
lamented in the past about the occasional challenge of putting into
words why I find a drone-ambient album compelling; there are indeed
only so many ways to describe gliding landscapes of subtly shifting
sound, but that does not preclude an album from resonating deeply. I
find that to be the case with Irish musician Dunk Murphy’s Supercede,
an album that caught me offguard in its unassumingness… it fades in
slowly and its fifteen tracks tend to be slow burns rather than big
dynamic statements. Many of those cuts exceed five or six minutes
each, giving them ample time to expand like a gaseous, shapeless
cloud. The music stands in pretty stark contrast to his more
beat-laden and layered works as Sunken Foal or as part of Ambulance, eschewing
beats altogether and instead presenting 15 gorgeous improvised
synthesis landscapes, one take each without edits. Minced Oath is a new project for Murphy to showcase these ambient excursions, and Supercede is an incredibly fine premiere.

Supersede by Minced Oath

Even though
describing the variety in these tracks is a nuanced affair, there are
standouts among them. “Long Distance Clara” is characterized by
patient rushes of pads, sort of slow-motion zaps that feel evocative.
The vibrating hums of “Falcon Crest” feel almost electrical, and
on a good set of headphones — the best way to take this music in,
in my opinion — it’s immersive. The title track is another big
standout for me, seven minutes of gliding, patient pads that recall
some of the elegy of Stars of the Lid. Fans of gliding, stark
ambience will find a lot to love here, from the patient swaths of
“Imperial Leather Boat” to the more rhythmic patterns of “Racquet
Restrung.” Definitely not to be missed, one of my favorites of 2017
so far.

Buy it: Bandcamp