Penumbra is Mark Warren, one half of UK ambient pioneers Zoviet France,and this album on Iris Light is the follow-up to last years solo debut"Anoraks" on Universal Egg. "Skandinavien" explores - for exactly 74minutes - similar dark ambient terrain with the aid of repetitive beatsand natural and not so natural field recordings from the region."Welcome to Skandinavien" quietly drifts for awhile then adds in flightinstructions from a flight to Copenhagen. "Deep Listening" churns withsteady layers of electronic drone wave, reversed audio bits, rattles,bells and a deep percussive thud, a lovely female voice loop beingintroduced by the 10th minute. "Another Rainy Day" features a constantcascading beat pattern and, of course, trickling water by the end."Input from Origin" builds upon a never ending beat with synth swirland mildly annoying sporadic notes. Ditto the never ending beat, onlymore frantic and heavy, on "A Week in the Black Box" as steam hissesand sine waves drone incessantly. "Living on the Borderlines" calmsthings down again ... static sea waves, bird calls, a simple hi-hatrhythm, native bellowing and the gentle hum of an engine (plus 6minutes or so of hidden track - field recording of people conversing,traffic and construction). Relaxing. "Penumbra" is pleasant and sits inthe upper middle of my quality scale for these type of albums ...
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