CD Review: Aires – Fantasma

Posted on the 10 January 2016 by Tomatrax @TomatraxAU

Portuguese experimental artist Aires is back with another collection of ambient drone sounds. This EP sees the signature Aires sound on display across three parts, all named after the EP's title. There is around 23 minutes of ambient sounds that gradually evolve in their own time. There are no tunes to be found, rather the sounds just glacially wharf by seamlessly flowing into each other.

Fantasma I features the signature drone sounds Aires is known for. These slowly drift from the front to the back of the sound with soft and subtle charismatic voices filling in the gaps. This creates a curious industrial yet dreamy soundscape. The sounds gradually evolve with the track being closed out by slow and spacey dance sounds. Fantasma II is a softer and more vivid piece, The show pretty sounds float by like fog on a winter's morning gradually moving to present a bright and clear day. As the song progresses it feels like you are floating slowly along by a strange but beautiful land.
Fantasma III is the longest, and perhaps the darkest part of the trilogy. Starting off with simple faint drone sounds the music gradually becomes deeper and darker as the the chilling yet intriguing industrial atmosphere becomes more vivid and realised before tapering off and taking on a more placid earthy feel to close out the EP.

Aires has continued to produce some curious sounds. There is once again a lot of slow experimentation with any concept of conventional music tossed right out of the window. This means that is won't be accessible to all. However those that like ambient sounds portraying vivid and varied soundscapes will find beauty in this journey.

Check out Aires' facebook page to find out more!