Review: Urthona - 'Forever People' (Heavy Rural)

These are weird times indeed; the news is full of nothing but doom, gloom and war and social media is..well....social media - a place where good news and selfless acts are derided and scorned. It's a sad situation indeed and we all need some form of balm to help us navigate our way through the morass of despondancy and tory led depression. For myself, an album in which I can get truly lost is such a balm; an oasis of peace in a desert of turmoil. 'Forever People' is one such album and then some. From my admittedly primary level calculations Urthona have been producing top notch music for a decade or so in various guises and their back catalogue is filled with absolute gems of drone-filled, fuzzy goodness.

For this release Urthona is just Neil Mortimer who does and plays everything. It consists of 2 tracks both clocking in at around twenty minutes and titled 'Forever People 1' and 'Forever People 2' and so what we have is 40 minutes of absolutely gorgeous drone that is immersive to the point of hypnagogia - that place of liminality in which the real world is suspended for a short while and all that matters is the here and now. It is mindfullness at its very best. Musically it is "blurred, decaying, tape-looped fuzz guitars." (taken from the Bandcamp page). When I hear the word 'decayed' in respect to music my mind automatically goes to Basinski and his 'Disintegration Loops' and I think it is fair to say that there is a definite shared reality altering aspect to both albums. In 'Forever People' the atmosphere is derived from the interplay between the wall of heavy drone and the gentle shimmering of treated guitar - in places it reminded me of Matt Valentine's guitar work, that same echoing, bucolic quality.

This really is a wonderful album, one that should be prescribed on the NHS such are its healing qualities; for those 40 minutes the real world stops and allows one's brain to rest from its washing machine cycle of anxiety, worry and anger. Yes, it really is that good. It is available from the Heavy Rural Bandcamp Page here as a download (on a 'Name Your Price' basis but you know the score, gotta support the artists) or as a CD that comes replete with extra goodies and a DL code to an additional 40 minutes of unreleased Forever People solo guitar demos.



Links:

Urthona Bandcamp

Heavy Rural Facebook