Entry 1635 - Deaf Center - Pale Ravine

Style: ambient, modern classical 

Thoughts: I really need to find out the name of this genre. The genre that Deaf Center play. It's a mix of ambient with classical music, and it's become an obsession of mine. 

Pale Ravine is essentially a series of soundscapes that osculate through different melodies over the course of an hour and change. These soundscapes are created by classical instrumentation - such as violins and pianos - and then manipulated through the wonders of modern technology. This creates an inherit dissonance to the music, not as in the music is hard to listen to but rather it's very existence is a paradox. 

Classical music is often seen as the hallowed entity, the highest form of western music. It involves intricacies that other genres simply cannot attain. It has an elegance to it that other genres can get a glimpse of, but only ever a glimpse. To pervert that with electronica is anathema... or is it?

Deaf Center certainly does not seem to think that these two genres are mutually exclusive. In fact they take the idea of classical music and weave it into the very DNA of their electronica. The songs are obviously created with analog instrumentation and then they are transformed using synths, midi controllers, and sometimes even a drum machine. Purists be damned. 

So Pale Ravine is anathema. It is the combination of two things that should not be put together, a homunculus if you will.  One would be wise to be cautious about a musical amalgamation such as this, but that caution soon fades away as the music begins to reveal itself. 

Take for instance the third track, White Lake. The song starts out with a simple piano tone, short and effective. It lingers, it is allowed to decay completely, silence lingers. Soon thereafter ambient soundscapes begin to creep in and blanket the piano with an additional layer of depth, silencing the silence so to speak. This interplay continues until finally some strings come in and begin a percussive pizzicato beat to round out the song. 

Slowly but surely the full extent of the beauty contained within is revealed, but it is only for those who would stay and partake. Those who lack patience need not linger. 

White Lake is but one example of many to be found on Pale Ravine. This duo of Norwegians have created something quite impressive with their art. A mysterious yet entirely rewarding modern take on a genre that has been stuck in the past for a very long time. The fact that this album even exists is enough to turn some people away, but for those who are curious, Pale Ravine delivers a delightful escape from reality.