[since Concreteweb is not a politics-oriented site in essence (which does not mean that I can not / may not / will not express my disgust for certain ‘world leaders’ or their sociologic ideologies, or to promote certain, well, rather ‘open-minded’ and critically deep-thought theories), I will not just go into the country involved and its problems, at least when it comes to this specific review; however, I do support the people that stand up for their rights – this is for those who fight dictatorial authorities, and for those who resist and revolt against these cowardly leaders that hide behind economic power and strict religion as means to suppress their nation… This one is for Mohammadreza and his beloved ones in the first place, for all human beings being suppressed worldwide in general, and for the Iranian people more specifically!]
Ah, skip it… This review is, primarily, about a sonic registration by someone from Persian soil, i.e. Morego Dimmer, aka Mohamadreza (Mohamad Reza) Govahi, who hails from Iran. This talented guy is known from musical projects like Morego, Nyctallz or Xerxes The Dark (amongst others), or from his Zāl Records production label, as well as from the professional DIM Studio. And with certainty he’s involved with several other projects too within the sonic scene. At the end of 2024, Xerxes The Dark did release the album Absurd, which reflects fake ideologies, false expectations, and the feeling of abandonment, betrayal and isolationism. Unfortunately, that title purely defines what is happening right now in his home country, as well as almost everywhere on our home planet (ah, what a prophetic reflection of the world’s current state and the far-reaching things happening right now). But I will focus on the latest release under the Xerxes The Dark moniker, i.e. Abandoned Station, the successor of the great Absurd release.
This newest album, Abandoned Station, was written, recorded, produced, mixed and mastered once again by Mister Morego Dimmer himself in his Tehran-based DIM Studio. I have no idea who is behind the visual art this time, but the great dark-shaded cover painting / picture has so many levels of identification, with that blackened sun or moon (or any other space body), un-brightly un-shining above the corpus of our own planet (read: mountains looking down of the sea and its shore), or any form of artificially manipulated visual mind-twist behind it. It gives a feeling of emptiness and loneliness, covered in the awe of unlimitedness and vastness. That cover art surely relates with the ‘abandonment’-thing within the title.
Anyway, the sonic side… Abandoned Station consists of four chapters, clocking about half an hour. It’s a conceptual narrative, like a soundtrack that accompanies the listener on an interstellar journey towards an old, forgotten, abandoned space station that roams through our solar system and beyond; a far-distant ‘sanctuary, abandoned yet alive with echoes of past travelers’. The aim of this recording is to translate that experience of being ‘alone’ in space into sound, as if ‘time slows down, and the station becomes a haven to relax, reflect, and immerse yourself in its mysterious serenity’.
A darkened drone welcomes the listener; I am referring to the first notes of opener Floating Experience: Lab 01.NTR (with its length of 06:17 it is the shortest piece on the album; the three other compositions clock around eight minutes each). But it doesn’t take long before the doom, the uncertainty of what might dwell behind the station’s portal, manifests its perception of tranquility and peace; wonder and awe too. Quite soon, after about forty seconds, the raison d’être gets unfolded through enlightened, spacy and intoxicating textures and sound-designs. Subtly interacting lines on synth / keyboard (and the use of waterphone) create aural waves of dreamlike, mesmeric, even illuminating finesse, like stepping out of one’s physical shell (aka ‘the body’). This trend continues via Space Ghost (Part 1) and Space Ghost (Part 2) (08:03 and 08:19 respectively). The mixture of psychedelic elements, darkened drones, cosmic ambiences, dissonant structures and astral injections creates a double effect: disturbance and acquiescence. That duality is well-balanced, like impending doom and levitative enlightenment floating hand in hand through the Cosmos. Another contrast, when it comes to the sound quality, is the balance of imperturbable roughness at the one hand and surgical precision at the other. It’s rather meditative and introspective, yet offering a hint of psycho-sedative perception. Starry Horizon & Falling Photons (07:57), lastly, guides the listener through the Inner Eye, to contemplate our personal life, our existence, our civilization, our relations, our ‘essence of being’, in proportion. A step-back to confront with your inner Self, metaphorically procreated into sonic terms, to realize, and recognize, that we are just dust particle on our planet, a glimpse during history, a tiny falling photon traveling through the horizon of stars…
I have spoken…
https://xerxesthedark.bandcamp.com/album/abandoned-station
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/xerxes-dark
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/ugasanie-xerxes-dark
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/alphaxone-xerxes-dark
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/various-artists-visions-darkness
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/various-artists-heresy
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/morego
https://xerxesdark.tumblr.com/zal