Bearsuit 2025
Faro
Refracting insular minimalism through the lens of mesmeric sadness, intrepid Dunediner locates miracles of sonic hybernation.
Harold Nono has been around for nigh on two decades as one of a few noms de guerre of Bearsuit Records’ head honcho Dave Hillary who needed to create various personas for various aspects of what he does and spectacularly succeeded in doing so. However, this character seems pretty separated from the rest of them, because previous works released under the Nono moniker included numbers composed by Harold yet performed by a string quartet, and here’s a completely different level of artistry on offer and somewhat dissimilar approach on display. Now, inspired by the atmosphere on the Swedish island of Fårö, the Scottish explorer is moving beyond the realm of symphonic avant-garde towards something no less organic.
A sort of soundtrack for postmodern cinema, “Faro” is a set of four pieces filled with the sense of foreboding, sparse piano and ghostly whooshing sending opener “Raukar” to the world deceptively devoid of feelings, a place where what could be classified as musique concrète is getting slowly but surely devoured by the langoliers. Still, when spatial effects and mournful synthesizer transmogrify existential dread into a haunting melody that’s fleshed out with enough arresting details, the listeners are immersed in the delights of suspended animation. Not for nothing there’s a fog of expectancy in the half-abstract tune of “Hour Of The Wolf” which hints at rapture yet never delivers any cathartic moments, preferring instead to meander through the sheets of white noise before folding on itself to expose a cold, if infectious, groove and then to dissolve the rhythm in the cello-painted landscape of “Broa Kiosken” which plumbs the depth of despair via chamber grandeur.
So once the tidal waves of “Sketch For Faro” reveal subdued triumph underneath their worried new-age to form a perfect finale of this mini-album, the entire scope of its small wonder surfaces to dazzle the audience. A major minor milestone: that’s what “Faro” is.
*****
