Bee Mask - Hyperborean Trenchtown (2009)

 

Drone / Ambient

RIYL: Axolotl, Donato Dozzy, Growing

★★★

We haven't heard anything from Chris Madak's Bee Mask project since 2012's innovative When We Were Eating Unripe Pears, though there's been a bit of buzz for awhile about something new in the works (fingers crossed). Prior to that most recent breakthrough, the man behind the mask was as prolific as any psychedelic drone artist in the late '00s, tossing out vinyl slabs etched with side-long epics almost biannually and rivaling the work ethic of an entire hive of his namesake. I'm still working my way through most of them after a recent spur of inspiration to dive into his back catalog, but already Hyperborean Trenchtown, the 2009 release from Weird Forest Records, stands out.

For those unfamiliar with Greek mythology like myself, the term hyperborean refers to a mythical race of giants who lived in snowy mountains "beyond the North Wind". It should come as no surprise, then, that the two 15-minute pieces that make up the release are gargantuan sheets of glacial drone that creep along slowly but with powerful intent. Side A at first comes across as a single sustained note produced by a sudden gust of arctic air, but with a bit of patience and careful attention mutates into what sounds like an entire symphonic orchestra carefully shuffling its feet across a tightrope with the faint sounds of strings and horns skimming back and forth across the wire. Side B is slightly more varied, beginning with some icy chimes dangling in aleatoric patterns before surrendering to another single-note blast of power electronics about halfway through. When that in turn dissolves into a wandering synth pattern of warmer tones, the sun triumphantly rises to thaw the frost, closing out Bee Mask's massive suite of sheer cold with a honey-soaked revelation more fitting of his smaller-scale pseudonym.