Fluid Audio

Recent Reviews For 005

Over the last week or so we have received some wonderful reviews for Hummingbird’s ‘Our Fearful Symmetry’….

I’ll confess my curiosity is piqued when a release appears that’s credited to a “well-known composer who wishes to remain anonymous,” as the press info accompanying Hummingbird’s Our Fearful Symmetry declares. In a haunting collection predicated upon side-stepping the cult of personality, this latest release from the Fluid Audio imprint presents eleven meditative, absorbing set-pieces in the electronic-classical genre that paint their evocative pictures with concision. The material is by turns portentous, brooding, pensive, soothing, turbulent, and unsettling, not to mention atmospheric in the extreme, with all sounds, whether they’re piano, electronics, speaking voices, static, white noise, nature-based field recordings, or strings, steeped in reverb and rendered faded by the imagined passage of time.

The album begins on a deeply plaintive note with “Uncertainty in Copenhagen” wherein somber piano melodies appear amidst cellos and faint electronic flickering. “The Little Green Box” cultivates a mood of child-like reverie in its splashes of string plucks and music box-like sparkle; while the piece initially appears to meander, a general shape gradually begins to come into focus as its multiple elements cohere. In “Sketch of the Mythology,” droplets of piano appear alongside the vibrato of electronic cellos and silken exhalations of a choir, while the peaceful “Defining Space” opts for softly whistling ambient ripples of processed materials. Yes, it’s an album that seamlessly slots itself into the ambient soundscaping genre, and the material does suggest kinship with the works of Max Richter, Library Tapes, and Peter Broderick, but it’s no less engaging for doing so. Our Fearful Symmetry is available in a limited edition of 100 letter-pressed copies with each accompanied by a 1940s Polaroid slide. – Textura

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Hummingbird’s “Our Fearful Symmetry” is an album of incredible poise, precision and elegance. From the opening notes of piano-led ‘Uncertainty in Copenhagen’ to the final decaying haze of “Garden of Secrets” there is not a phrase, sound, or idea out of place. It is evident, even on a first listen, that the musical mind behind Hummingbird had an inordinately clear vision of what this album was to sound like – each track has been put together with a diamond cutter’s eye for detail.

The tracks that make up the album are pared back to bare bones but remain remarkably and resoundingly complete. “Sketch of the Mythology”, for example, over the course of its brief 3 ½ minute duration, is at once wistful and grand. A pensive cello carves out a quintessentially mournful phrase which, delicately accentuated by simple touches of piano, gives way in the middle of the track to lulling washes of voice. Gradually the cello returns with what could be the sound of crickets or the whirring of a broken tape player. The effect is oddly nostalgic and ghostly– like revisiting a, now abandoned, childhood home.

“The little green box”, another stand-out tune, takes a music-box melody slowly being unwound and carefully sets it against a subdued and diffuse arpeggio before allowing the delicate structure to break down and reform in a different guise, bathed in warm vinyl crackle. The unfurling melodies and depth of production on this track alone would make this an album worth owning – yet a similar level of quality can be found across all 11 pieces here.

On “Starfish Seastar”, the listener is carried along on echoing, widescreen piano notes and snatches of doleful strings within an enveloping cloud of reverb. This is music of an unhurriedly assured modesty – it is not pretending to grandeur but nor is it shying away from distinction. An imperturbable balance is struck.

Throughout “Our Fearful Symmetry” we hear pianos, cellos, undefined humming pads, snatches of conversation, vinyl pops – the elements are, no doubt, familiar to fans of electronically-tinged modern classical sounds, but there is something just right about their use here. Rarely are such commonly used ingredients put together so expertly in a single track – how much more rare to hear this level of expertise across an entire album?

Hummingbird’s marriage of restrained classicism and contemporary electronic atmospheric manipulation means that “Our Fearful Symmetry” is very much a record of the moment – the ambient/electro-acoustic scene abounds with artists mining the same vein of inspiration – however, while many acts aspire to the creation of reminiscence-evoking beauty it is an uncommon achievement. The artist behind Hummingbird accomplishes a startling ubiquity of grace throughout this album and though it is a debut outing for the project, the strength of the material and its connotative power betray the unmistakable hand of a master at work. – John McCaffrey

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Its been a while since I had a chance to review anything from the Fluid Audio label so the chance to check out ‘Our Fearful Symmetry’ by Hummingbird was something of a long overdue treat. Rather than give myself a dedicated listening session this album became my walking companion over the last day or so as I moved around a bright and sunny yet somewhat quiet Sheffield (the students have gone home and Glastonbury seems to have beckoned the rest).

Its a striking collection, sparse and slightly otherworldly. The arrangements are largely minimal consisting of spacious piano arrangements, strings and a disparate array of varied percussive elements. The overrall mood is one that is rooted in melancholy but in this instance that’s no bad thing. Right from the opening track “Uncertainty In Copenhagen” we have gentile arrangements that really seek to draw the attention of the listener, listening to this on headphones does have the effect of making the everyday world become somewhat secondary. A sun drenched day in a slightly underpopulated city suddenly becomes akin to being the last man on Earth. The skittish found sounds that fall into place behind the musical arrangements are the aural equivalent of something playing across the edge of your field of vision. Intriguing stuff indeed.

Its an unusual soundtrack for these balmy sunny days but trust me its a worthwhile one. – Adrian Carter 020 Magazine

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Sometimes, all it takes is one moment in music, a specific sound, a sliver of a piano note, a shimmer of guitar, where the listener is, at once, completely taken over…

An unassuming sound creates a moment of clarity for the listener and from that moment, the listener is transfixed on the music, a sense of bewilderment overwhelms them, and they are beholden to the album until it finally ends. Hummingbird, the nom de plume of an otherwise well-known composer, of whom very little is known, creates many of these moments throughout Our Fearful Symmetry, and at each, wonder abounds.

Upon pressing play, “Uncertainty in Copenhagen” lulls the listener into the minute intricacies of the sustained notes of piano, which find their way through the current of strings gliding fluidly around the piece. The listener continues to be drawn in further from the ominous plucks of “Seeds of Deception” to the sparse notes of “The Little Green Box”. Each sound emitted sends the listener off on tangents of introspection, allowing them to move effortlessly from place to place, in tune with one’s physical surroundings as well as the space surrounding the sounds.

Most of the pieces on Our Fearful Symmetry are built around subtle string arrangements that become entangled in a string of piano notes, odd field recordings, as on “Thoughts in the Head” where I could swear there was the sound of a clanging buoy gently rocking on the sea, and other minimal electronic textures that add to the wonderful use of space on each of the pieces presented here.

The listener is never overwhelmed, and instead, is given space to breathe and absorb, before returning to soak in the ever-expanding sea of sounds. On “Defining Space”, Hummingbird does just that for the listener, which is a microcosm of the album as a whole, creating a place in order for the listener to exist and giving that place meaning or definition.

This album is truly a wonder and as it is limited to 100 copies, those lucky enough to secure a copy will bask in its beauty for a long time. – Michael Vitrano