Sataray: Blood Trine Moon

Dark ambient music thrives on the ominous and the off-putting. Eschewing conventional notions of melody and rhythm, it creates eerie atmospheres that twist and swirl like fog. For Sataray, it also establishes a ritual space, where everyday ideas are cast aside and new ideas and actions spring to mind.

Sataray, a solo artist, has been writing music for several years. Part of her interest in dark ambient music is the way it connects with movement and performance art. Some of her live shows include butoh dancers and performance artists who draw on the music for inspiration. Some of you might also know her from her collaborations with Anima Nocturna. This is my first experience with Sataray’s music, but I like what I hear so far.

I’m sure that dark ambient music isn’t to everyone’s taste, but for those who are willing to give it a shot, you might find it interesting. As I suggested above, this is atmospheric music, the kind that you expect to come on while you’re exploring a dark space and you don’t have a flashlight. But it isn’t just threatening and scary. Instead, it’s an atmosphere that moves slowly through a series of ideas that never seem to begin or end anywhere in particular. When I listen to it, I tend to let my mind wander, even if it gets distracted from the music. For me, that’s part of the experience. Ambient sounds are supposed to weave in and out of your attention, never quite at the center of your attention but never completely distant from it.

Of all the tracks here, I liked “Fecundi� the most. It has a very moody motif that runs through it that I can only describe as a pulsating, oozing, quality. It helps that Sataray’s keyboards capture low tones with the perfect amount of clarity and menace. They also help set up a bold and droning rhythm. By contrast, the dominant voice in “Hexanmacht� is slightly brighter, if also more meandering. Given the title’s suggestion of witchcraft, I imagine that voice as a means of invoking a ritual space, or maybe just inviting bodies to move or to dance. The song takes time to establish everything and then it turns very dark as a rasping whisper enters the mix and sticks with us for ra while. That’s a voice I never want to hear in the dark.

The other two tracks are also solid. “Astara� opens the EP perfectly with its spreading sense of eerie menace. I liked how quiet it was at first and then slowly ramps things up to a mysterious chiming sound that intertwines with a frightening whisper. This track definitely has that dark ambient sense of weaving in and out of consciousness. “The Lake� is no less powerful. Trust me when I say this isn’t the soundtrack to a summertime lake resort. It’s not even the soundtrack to a fall day at said resort. This is the soundtrack to the stuff around the lake at midnight on the coldest and darkest night of the year when the ghouls show up.

Track Listing:
1. Astara
2. The Lake
3. Fecundi
4. Hexennacht

Added: April 18th 2022
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 872
Language: english

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