Earthborn

If ever you thought of listening to nature-themed instrumental music for relaxation but you always shied away from New Age because - let's be honest - it was sickly and cloying, and you were scared your friends would find out and laugh at you, here is the answer to your fears: an album of soothing and comforting immersion music based around nature, and moreover an album made by an artist with a background in black metal. "Earthborn" happens to Album No 6 for the Colorado-based solo BM / dark folk / post-rock act Evergreen Refuge which specialises in making highly immersive music soundtracks with a theme of humanity reconnecting with nature through close physical contact and solitude, and rediscovering its passion and spirit.

A couple of earlier albums made by Evergreen Refuge that I've heard did have some black metal, and very good it was too, but this latest release is completely acoustic. Even so, there is still darkness throughout the music and the guitar melodies show strong black metal influence in their tremolo notes. The music is very minimal, relying almost completely on acoustic guitar and a frame drum, and this of course means that constant melodic and riff invention must carry the entire album for about 45 minutes.

Much of the music is very graceful and liquid, lovely to listen to, and the emotions within range from longing to wistfulness. For such a long album of its kind though - 45 minutes might not seem long but we are talking about a one-track recording - the music comes across as fragmented and there are breaks within that are long enough to be pauses between songs on other recordings. Because the music is so gentle, any energy that exists is quite low and breaks in the music will make that energy disappear. The album could stand having up to 10 minutes' worth of pauses and melody or rhythmic repetitions edited out for a tighter and more unified recording. The tension that builds up in the music would come earlier and the energy and passion in that would stand out more to the listener. As it is, the album improves hugely during its second half with an escalation of intense feeling and a hardening of tone but by then, many listeners might have given up.

The album could have been broken up into chapters of the one over-arching work as the music really does lend itself to being cut up that way, and listeners could pick out the sections that appeal to them most. Hearing it in one go will be one hard slog for most people, though if you think you can hack diving into its deep end, you should give it a try. If you can do that, and you come out enthusiastic about the music, even with all its fragmentation, you've come home to relaxing nature immersion music without the New Age kitsch.