BVDUB Epilogues for the end of the sky

Continuing along the ambient/experimental spectrum, here are two new releases from the always-reliable (and very aptly named) Glacial Movements label. Actually, though, having said that: if you expect everything from Glacial Movements to be cold and slow-moving, you may be surprised by these two albums. Brock Van Wey (recording as bvdub) has been in self-imposed exile from the house and club scene for about 15 years now, and currently works in a highly personal style that is actually quite warm, but often also deeply and inexplicably sad. “Inexplicably” because it’s not like he employs obvious techniques like minor keys or samples of crying children or whatever; he just makes very effective use of subtle melodies that evoke longing or melancholy, and couches them in atmospheres that deepen and darken them. CD HOTLIST

bvdub has a new album coming on April 28th. American producer Brock Van Wey has an expansive and prolific discography, but he's probably best known for his ambient (and sometimes techno) work under the name bvdub. His latest record, which follows a handful of self-released albums last year, is his first for Glacial Movements, the label that released many of his early works, since 2013's Erebus collaboration with Loscil. There isn't a whole lot of info on what inspired this one, though the label calls it his "most wistful and hypnotic work yet." Listen to opening track "On Deaf Hearts Your Prayers They Fall."RESIDENT ADVISOR

Mi avvicino con passo guardingo, fingo di non conoscere l'essere impalpabile che governa il mondo nel quale mi trovo. So per certo che al minimo cenno lui si volterà, cercherà i miei ricettori sensoriali e trovati, inizierà la danza circolare che pian piano avvolgerà tutte le mie difese trascinandomi tanto così, vicino alla sorgente della sua magia. Succede sempre, immancabilmente da quando ho iniziato ad ascoltare i suoi lavori, nel 2009. Brock Van Wey in arte BVDUB espande nuovamente l'eco irresistibile della sue visioni, la sostanza metafisica che le compone e lo fa attraverso una delle più prestigiose labels in circolazione, l'italiana Glacial Movements che produce l'ultima possente produzione del sound artist americano: Epilogues For The End Of The Sky.Il suo tratto, oramai noto, ha la capacità di non stancare. Al pari di qualche misteriosa soluzione chimica, una volta assunta richiede di essere riproposta all'ascolto per un numero svariato di volte. Ad ogni assunzione i particolari si sommano ai particolari, la base ambient allarga all'infinito le sue spire accogliendo al suo interno esplosioni musicali che si dilatano e abbracciano e si mescolano in un unico codice d'ascolto che si erge maestoso al limite dello spleen e dello splendore tardo romantico. Iterazione infinita, voci in loop, echi, droni e uso massiccio di melodia, questa la riserva immaginaria che serve per raggiungere l'angolo remoto dove termina il cielo.SHERWOOD

disco della settimana dal 24 al 30 aprile 2017 Avviene sempre qualcosa di speciale, quando i percorsi di Brock Van Wey e dell’etichetta Glacial Movements si incontrano. Nel 2010, lo splendido “The Art Of Dying Alone” aveva rappresentato una sorta di punto di svolta nelle esplorazioni all’insegna dell’isolazionismo ambientale caratterizzanti il catalogo dell’etichetta romana; sette anni più tardi, intervallati da altre produzioni collaborative (la rilettura di “Mørketid” e il lavoro condiviso con Scott Morgan, “Erebus“), per il prolifico artista è nuovamente tempo di dedicarsi a un immaginario ghiacciato che, come sempre, corrisponde a un percorso di ricerca interiore, fino alle corde più profonde di solitarie contemplazioni emotive. Come d’abitudine per Van Wey, “Epilogues For The End Of The Sky” è un’opera lunga (oltre settantacinque minuti) ed estremamente composita, che torna a presentare il profilo più dilatato e ambientale della copiosa produzione di bvdub, in una linea di continuità con il recente “Yours Are Stories Of Sadness“. Benché diverse siano la genesi e la natura stessa dei due lavori, vi si può riscontrare un comune denominatore consistente in un toccante romanticismo di fondo, che negli otto brani di “Epilogues For The End Of The Sky” si manifesta in un universo di suoni espansi, solcato da voci distanti e ricorrenti note pianistiche. Lo si comprende già scorrendo i titoli dei brani e fin dalle fragili armonie di pianoforte sospese tra i vapori dell’iniziale “On Deaf Hearts Your Prayers They Fall”. Le pulsazioni non sono più quelle proprie della veste dub-techno di Brock Van Wey, bensì quelle ovattate del cuore, diluite in modulazioni avvolgenti e luminose risonanza, che descrivono elevazioni orchestrali, solcate da minuti fremiti e da una coralità armonica celestiale (“Sparkling Legions Turn To Black”, “Clouds Besiege What You Remain”). Alle immersioni in orizzonti di purezza ambientale, sconfinati come le distese innevate del grande Nord (“Clouds Besiege What You Remain”), corrispondono aperture elegiache (“Love Is Never Asking Why”), nelle quali soffici strati sintetici e sequenze armoniche si confondono in un unicum grondante suggestioni romanticamente cinematiche. Un viaggio lungo e coinvolgente tra l’immateriale dell’aria e quello dell’anima.MUSIC WONT SAVE YOU

Uno sguardo romanticamente contemplativo che si perde lungo territori privi di limiti tangibili e disturbanti ostacoli. Si sviluppa in atmosferica continuità con il precedente “Yours are stories of sadness” il nuovo lavoro di Brock Van Wey che riporta la sigla bvdub ad incrociarsi con la label romana Glacial Movements, lasciando emergere ancora una volta la componente più amniotica e vaporosa dell’artista americano. Gli accoglienti scorci definiti dalle dense saturazioni sintetiche cesellate da Van Wey fluiscono in lente persistenze che conducono verso improvvise e profondamente emozionali aperture melodiche (“On Deaf Hearts Your Prayers”, “Love Is Never Asking Why”) accogliendo spesso echi di una vocalità che riverbera distante conferendo un senso di solennità quieta e rarefatta (“With Broken Wings and Giants Tall”) o ingenerante palpitanti vortici ascensionali (“Sparkling Legions Turn to Black“). Una flebile vena malinconica emerge costante attraverso le glaciali visioni, divenendo a volte più marcata (“Your Painted Armor Aches to Crack”, “It All Ends with the Coming Sky”) o dissolvendosi quasi totalmente quando le dilatate tessiture si tramutano in una cristallina e pulsante danza di luminose stille sonore (“Footsteps Fade If Not Your Pain”). Un percorso silente attraverso paesaggi avvolgenti plasmati con ghiaccio bollente.SOWHAT MUSICA

Here he is again. Just reading the comments on his Bandcamp people really love this guy but here at the towers we see his output as a bit more hit and miss. Some albums hitting the mark with pinpoint accuracy, some just sounding like half formed chill out. Well hot on the heels of 'Yours Are Stories of Sadness' - (a good one) comes another epic full lengthter. All is going well on the opening 'On Deaf Hearts Your Prayers They Fall' until some pitched down vocals sidle in but they are far enough back in the mix not to ruin things completely. Brock Van Wey is an expert on devilishly sad ambient chord changes and demonstrates this on 'With Broken Wings and Giants Tall' which has a lovely 'Selected Ambient Works' style intro to which some almost ravey chords are added. Which the Orb track or other this is reminding me of I'm not sure - it's almost too familiar to being truly striking but very lovely indeed. Van Wey's issue is that he's very very good at the simple stuff but you can't keep doing that album after album so he has to find other sonic landscapes to explore. This hasn't always been successful in the past but on 'Sparkling Legions Turn to Black' he adds in acoustic guitar figures and shards of scattered voices which help envelope the track. To go back to one of the reviews on Bandcamp this is 'healing music'. It certainly has an evocative power to it and there are some wonderful drifts. On tracks like 'Footsteps Fade If Not the Pain' there's an almost Sakamoto ish feel to the Eastern melodies. It's hard not to enjoy this beautiful drifting music or at very least to be soothed by it so I'll stick my head out and say that this is a generally successful dollop of ambient bliss to get relaxed out to. NORMAN RECORDS

サンフランシスコのBrock Van Weyによるbvdubの、2017年最初のリリースとなるフルアルバムがイタリアのGlacial Movementsからリリース。Loscilとのコラボ作のリリースはありましたが、Glacial Movementsからの単独名義のアルバムとしては2011年作の『I Remember』以来6年振りのリリースになります。 もの静かに漂うメランコリックなシンセ〜仄かな反響音のドローンや、淡いエフェクトのかかったぼやけたピアノ〜ギター、おぼろげな儚いコーラスなどがシンフォニックに重なりあってなだらかに浮遊する、幻想的で美しいミニマル・アンビエント〜ドローン・サウンド。部分的に鼓動のような微かなビートを取り入れているトラックもありますが、今作は基本的にはすべてのトラックがビート・レスで、また音圧のあるノイズや力強く盛り上がっていくような展開も取り入れていない、bvdubの内省的〜感傷的な面の出ている深遠なアンビエント作品となっています。前作の『Yours Are Stories Of Sadness』と同じ流れの作風のアルバムですが、1曲1曲が短めだった『Yours Are Stories Of Sadness』とは異なり、平均10分弱の1曲が長めのトラックが揃った、より深くbvdubの揺らめきのサウンドの世界に浸れるアルバムです。全8曲41分収録。前面部の「bvdub」の文字にエンボス加工を施した、6面パネルのデジパックでのリリース.LINUS RECORDS

Certains albums méritent une attention particulière, ce sont des œuvres où la beauté ne peut être saisie sans une totale dévotion de l’auditeur. Le vaste univers de la musique ambiante est parfait pour nous accompagner dans nos lectures, nos méditations ou nos promenades solitaires. L’album Epilogues For The End Of The Sky transcende cette notion d’ambiance, il est si puissant qu’il transforme littéralement la pièce dans laquelle vous vous retrouvez ou l’activité que vous exécutez. La douceur des compositions de bvdub n’a d’égal que sa déstabilisante force, c’est un album aux contrastes pratiquement inexistants, mais à l’efficacité pure. Parus sur l’étiquette italienne Glacial Movements en avril dernier, les huit titres que propose le musicien américain Brock Van Wey se fusionnent parfaitement avec la thématique du label. Cet opus nous démontre la beauté de la finalité, il s’agit de la trame sonore d’une lente fin du monde. Empreint d’une certaine tristesse, ce disque agit tout de même sur nous comme un baume sur nos plaies psychologiques. Malgré cette intense décharge émotive, bvdub parvient à approprié un aspect curatif à sa musique. Cette session thérapeutique s’apparente à un rendez-vous chez le psychologue, pour quelques dollars en moins évidemment. Le titre Footsteps Fade If Not Your Pain est si bon qu’il se qualifie parmi mes morceaux favoris de l’année, c’est intemporellement magnifique. Oscillant malgré lui entre sa Californie natale et son amour pour la Chine, Brock a longuement été professeur d’anglais dans le plus grand pays d’Asie orientale. Il est issu d’un parcours classique où il a appris le violon dès l’âge de cinq ans et un peu plus tard le piano. Actif musicalement depuis d’innombrables années, il s’illustra notamment comme DJ dans la scène rave de San Francisco dans les années 90, mais il décida de créer ses propres compositions seulement vers 2006. C’est donc il y a une dizaine d’années qu’il officialisa la création de son principal projet musical, intitulé bvdub. Avec plus d’une cinquantaine de parutions en à peine une décennie, la moindre des choses serait de le qualifier de productif. Il serait facile de crouler sous cette production de masse, mais l’effort en vaut entièrement le détour. La passion et l’intensité de ses admirateurs sont peu communes dans le jargon de la musique ambiante, il frappe dans le mille avec sa signature très personnelle. Chacune des notes provient de ses tripes, elles doivent avoir un sens pour lui afin de se retrouver sur un album. Son lourd bagage en matière de dépressions chroniques donne naissance à un sentiment de vérité qui colle incontestablement à ses créations. bvdub est en quelque sorte la raison de vivre et le moyen d’expression d’un être tourmenté, comment ne pas avoir envie de plonger dans son univers et de voir la beauté qui en ressort?mesenceintesfontdefaut

bvdub is Brock Van Wey of San Francisco. Epilogues for the End of the Sky is my first encounter with him, though it seems that he has been creating music through one name or another since the late ’80s. So it is no surprise that when I heard this album the first time it seemed so nuanced and masterfully crafted. Since that first listen, I can barely go a day without hearing it. bvdub fits somewhere between the space of dark melancholic ambient and deep house music. There are no beats or percussion to speak of, but the format and general aesthetics of the album certainly lead in the direction of some deep house or trance music. The most recognizable element that gives it this tag is the sparing use of vocal sections throughout the album. They will gently creep in and out of the mix, as if part of a DJ’s set. One some tracks like the opener, “On Deaf Hearts Your Prayers They Fall” the vocals are quite subtle, yet others will bring them much closer to the surface. The piano is used in just such a sparing yet emotive manner as the vocals. Some tracks will barely allow it to surface in the background, while others bring it directly to the forefront, guiding the direction of the track. “Sparkling Legions Turn To Black”, my favorite track on the album, brings these two elements together perfectly. There is a spacey feeling, a sense of some late night deep house set on a beach. But this is only what it suggests, the music itself is deeply melancholic. It seems more a memory of a distant summer in the past, in a time during one’s youth that will never return. This track, “Sparkling Legions Turn To Black” showcases a lot of the best elements of Epilogues for the End of the Sky. There are sweeping drone elements, deeply relaxing, yet always seeming to have a darker element present. The track starts out with this light droning, before an acoustic guitar enters the mix. Later as these two elements come to an apex the vocal section is presented. This really brings that feeling of a distant memory to the surface. These vocals are barely recognizable at first, but they will boil to the surface bringing an emotional charge along with them. By the eight minute mark, the track drops to almost a silence before the synthesizer elements and vocals take to the forefront. The rest of the eleven-plus minute track is much more direct, and comes the closest to deep-house that we will hear on the album. All of these elements give a suggestion of something from the electronic dance music scene, but they never arrive at that destination. Which is exactly why the album fits so well on Glacial Movements. The music moves along at that glacial pace, often leading toward a climax which never arrives. This increases those melancholic elements. It gives the album a truly sad feel. Add to this the occasional input of field recordings and we are left with an album that is not the usual sort of dark ambient at all, but it pulls at the emotions of the listener in many of the same ways. When presented with something that is ambient and deep-house with no tempo, but the entirety is vastly melancholic, this seems the perfect recipe for attracting the attentions of dark ambient listeners. You may need to already have an appreciation for house or trance or some other techno scene to enjoy this album. I’ve always loved those genres, so it seems natural that this depressive take on those styles would feel so perfect for me. Listeners who enjoy taking a step outside the usual formula will find a lot to love here. But if you were never too interested in these mentioned genres or if you prefer your dark ambient to remain orthodox, then this will not be the album for you. But for those of us who do enjoy this stretch, there is a lot here to fall in love with. Epilogues for the End of the Sky feels like a bit of a risk for Glacial Movements, as it moves a little further outside their usual format than one might expect. But the album is truly worthy of attention, and the years of experience behind its creator is obvious from beginning to end.THIS IS DARKNESS

The apocalyptic title suggests a large scale work from BVDUB, aka Brock van Wey, one that deals with the end of mortality. Appearances are deceptive however. The End Of The Sky may in this case be the point where the sky stops being blue and moves to become the dark edges of the universe. Either way, there are some incredibly ambient moments to be enjoyed here. What’s the music like? BVDUB manages the delicate balancing act of creating long lasting atmospheres but also dropping in shorter, more melodic loops to keep the listener’s interest high. The music floats on a cushion of air, with a distant voice used for With Broken Wings and Giants Tall. Sparkling Legions Turn to Black uses a far off chant, conducting powerful emotion through carefully constructed foreground loops. Meanwhile a delicate piano floats over the top of Footsteps Fade If Not Your Pain, the purest of sounds. Long, held background notes create a stillness over which slightly shorter patterns operate – with the addition of outdoor sounds and vocal fragments to create a scene of calm. Does it all work? Yes, on several levels. BVDUB creates some wondrously beautiful scenes through this album, conceived on a level that matches the title and the cover image. The tonal bases help, giving the music a clear anchor. This sequence, working extremely well in a single listen, is music that can be taken out from the whole and listened to in smaller chunks, or enjoyed as a whole that literally washes over the ears of the listener. Is it recommended? Wholeheartedly. BVDUB provides solace from the rush and incessant noise of everyday life, slowing things down, taking in the awesome scenery and surfing the wave of it. Ben HogwoodARCANA FM

'Meer van hetzelfde', zou het snelle, makkelijke oordeel kunnen zijn over de nieuwe plaat van BvDub, alias Brock van Wey; en de nieuwe GAS, het na ruim zestien jaar gereanimeerde ambient/droneproject van Wolfgang Voigt. Want inderdaad, er wordt op beide platen voortgeborduurd op bekende klanken en structuren, al valt bij Voigts 'Narkopop' op dat de nummers wat korter, maar ook wat afwisselender zijn dan voorheen. Van Wey legt echter op 'Epilogues For The End Of The Sky' weer een achttal vertrouwde, dicht geweven klanktapijten neer. In de kunst is een dergelijk 'voortborduren op' en 'perfectioneren van' gebruikelijk, zeker in de abstractere kunst, waar het werk los komt van de identiteit van de maker en de context vanwaaruit het voortkomt. In kringen van popmuziek vindt men het vaak maar pretentieus. Maar hebben we het hier nog over popmuziek? Hoewel het oude GAS-werk werd uitgebracht op het high brow Mille Plateaux-label, werd de recente megalomane boxset succesvol in de markt gezet door één van de sterkste merken in de huidige popmuziek, Kompakt, waardoor een vergelijking met de popart van Roy Liechtenstein en Andy Warhol zich opdringt. Hebben we te maken met een zoektocht naar pure muzikale esthetiek of met solipsistische paint by numbers-ambient? Deze dubbelzinnigheid kwelt wellicht alleen de recensent, die een beargumenteerd oordeel wil vellen. De luisteraar oordeelt vooral met de play- of juist de skip-knop. Deze luisteraar draaide de BvDub-plaat de afgelopen weken vooral op de slaapkamer, terwijl GAS het goed deed in het openbaar vervoer en in de kantine van het zwembad tijdens de zwemles van de kinderen. Is deze muziek dan in de eerste plaats bedoeld als decoratieve of zelfs toegepaste kunst? Als verrijking van onze dagelijkse sleur? Arbeidsvitamines voor de hoog-sensitieve geest? Deze invalshoek levert misschien nog wel het meeste op, want zo worden beide platen opeens metafysische klankborden: 'Narkopop' verbindt de grootstedelijke industriële ruis met visioenen van bossen en verborgen meertjes – zie ook het opnieuw prachtige artwork – en 'Epilogues For The End Of The Sky' biedt, getuige ook titels als 'On Deaf Hearts Your Prayers They Fall”, een diep-romantische uitvlucht voor wie na een drukke werkdag moet onthaasten.GONZO CIRCUS

Some album recommendations are easy to kick off, with a mention of an artist’s whereabouts, their background, or an enumeration of the recently released records. With Brock Van Wey, recording under his most known moniker, bvdub, it’s more than a difficulty. This particular album is probably his 30th (I’m not joking), or, it’s even possible that it’s the 40th release if one counts all the extended play records, often extending to 45 minutes in length over a few single pieces. Those following Brock’s intercontinental moves will be happy to find him back at home, in San Francisco, after having spent many years in China. What’s easy to say here, however, is that bvdub’s music is simply beautiful, timeless, and grand – which is exactly the reason I keep coming back for more.For Epilogues for the End of the Sky, we see bvdub returning to an Italian ambient label run by Alessandro Tedeschi, for his third solo catalog release (plus a glorious collaboration loscil, titled Erebus from 2013). Perhaps not as icy as Glacial Movements‘ themed publications, this ambient album is nevertheless slow rolling, like a cloud of deep heavy mist, descending over a mountain, and brushing its shoulders for the morning wake. Perhaps my imagery is inspired by the album’s cover art, photographed by Tero Marin, or it could be simply that bvdub’s music is as always somber, melancholy and serene. A watchful eye will even pick out a rhyming poem written out with titles: On Deaf Hearts Your Prayers They Fall With Broken Wings and Giants Tall Sparkling Legions Turn to Black Your Painted Armor Aches to Crack Clouds Besiege What You Remain Footsteps Fade If Not Your Pain Love Is Never Asking Why It All Ends with the Coming Sky Employing countless layers and loops, Epilogues for the End of the Sky absorbs the listener into its dense textural soundscapes, sonic sceneries, and all-encompassing vapor of sound. Staying here, the listener may be at risk of drowning in a fog, even as he blindly searches for the way to egress, unable to complete the never-ending task of always running from himself. The wistful cinematic passages that fill every hollow breath and envelop residual empty spaces will finally convince one to remain, sit down, and be one with oneself, where all is left are thoughts and music. If you’re just catching up to the works of bvdub, may I also point you to a couple of his most recent albums: Yours Are Stories Of Sadness out on the Greek Sound In Silence, A History of Distance out on n5MD, A Thousand Words and Safety In A Number both self-released on and available on bvdub’s Bandcamp, where you can also buy his entire digital discography of 37 releases at about $150 bucks. It’s seriously worth it and I promise that you will cherish every single ethereal moment. Thank you, Brock, for sharing your music with us – I may not be regularly sharing these words, but I’m always listening…HEADPHONE COMMUTE

Since the release of critically acclaimed full-length A Step In The Dark two years ago, Brock van Wey has gone back to his DIY roots, sticking out a couple of ultra-limited, home-made sets via CD-R and digital download. Epilogues For The End of The Sky marks his return to leading Italian ambient stable Glacial Movement, and is undoubtedly one of his most consistently strong albums for some time. As you'd expect, the ambient tracks pulse and shimmer with wintery beauty, while the more drone-inclined outings are impressively atmospheric and otherworldly. As the album progresses, van Wey turns his hand to ultra-deep techno, underpinning his fluid melodic movements with the distinctive 4/4 pulse of club-focused workouts.JUNO RECORDS

Nad každým přírůstkem do katalogu italských Glacial Movements se vždy znovu ptám, zda je možno se vymanit z jejich jednotícího ledového krunýře a najít si k tématu nějaký nový, osobitý přístup. Americkému Číňanovi Brocku Van Weyovi (1974), který vystupuje jako bvdub (ale také pod přízvisky Earth House Hold nebo East of Oceans), se to při temně melancholickém a emotivně depresívním albu Epilogues for the End of the Sky do značné míry podařilo. Tento někdejší DJay, pohybující se mezi oblastí San Franciska a Čínou a oscilující mezi ambientem, techno ambientem, deep housem a trancem, má na svém kontě přes čtyřicet alb na různých labelech, a neminul tedy ani Glacial Movements. Jeho osm exkurzů s dlouhými názvy (např. On Deal Hearts Your Prayers They Fall) je monolitně založeno na nehlučném drónování, klavírních dohledávkách, většinou upozaděné vokální sekci a občasných injekcích field recordings, celkový dojem je však klekánicové splývání, setrvávání v zátočině (ne)konečnosti, zádumné, až zádumčivé, zádušně roztrativé. Od samého počátku máme dojem vzdouvání a houfování, rozevírání širých ledových plání s minimální proměnlivostí, a přesto autor tuto široširost (nebo širosirost) dokáže za účasti ztajované chorálnosti zdramatizovat do jakési srdceryvné svátostnosti. Důraz je kladen na výraz epilog, jemu odpovídá nahrnovaná rozplývavost poselství, které probíhá se zdánlivou netečností, ve skutečnosti však s nepřeryvným protestováním, s ponornou podběrností a neustálou vrátivostí repetování. Všechny kompozice mají vlastně totožné schéma s monotónující závitností, jsou vyluzovaně navršované a sjíždivě křehnoucí, točíme se tu v nehalasivém víru, neustále končícím, leč téměř nekonečném (Love Is Never Asking Why), takže nás autor tím téměř nehybným tokem udolává. Udolává a zároveň burcuje. V tomto podvratně závratném splývání nakonec nacházíme vždy znovu zaujaté tajnosnubné obhlédání. Rezignující? Bez perspektiv? Kdo ví?UNI MAG

Brock Van Wey might occupy a niche in the ambient world, but his music comes in all shapes and sizes. He makes sweepingly emotional tracks that can take up entire sides of vinyl or get compressed into small bursts of feeling. He's as good at melodic epics and vocal tracks as he is at drone. With every bvdub release, you have a basic idea of the type of sounds you'll hear—reverb, wistful melodies, dubby delay effects—but how they might come out is less predictable. Epilogues For The End Of The Sky, the first album of the year from the prolific artist, finds him back in epic mode after the fragmented Yours Are Stories Of Sadness. But in its own way, Epilogues For The End Of The Sky is stripped-back. Van Wey simplifies his arrangements, burying feelings beneath a haze of reverb and effects. Like another Van Wey album, Safety In A Number, Epilogues For The End Of The Sky has a grandiose title and long tracks, but that's where the similarities end. Safety In A Number was the apex of a melodramatic style built around syrupy acapellas taken from trance tracks. By comparison, Epilogues For The End Of The Sky retreats into gauzy synth textures, guitar and piano. Instrumentation and occasional vocal whispers drown in a sea of reverb and delay effects, so that each element seems to leave behind an enormous vapour trail. It resembles post-rock in sound and style, lacking the techno-influenced framework of past bvdub albums. The album's emotional content can be ambiguous. It doesn't come with an explanatory note or the narratives of previous bvdub releases. (The track titles are lines of verse, though that doesn't offer much more context.) These are big tracks that hit like slow-motion tidal waves, their sighing melodies crashing around you. The best moments come when these walls of sound dissipate into moody outros, like when the piano cuts through the smokescreen in "On Deaf Hearts Your Prayers They Fall." The album works best during these inverted climaxes, in which the quietest moments make the most impact. Given how much Van Wey's songs have varied in the past, the uniform nature of Epilogues For The End Of The Sky can feel unimaginative—it's not until the 50-minute mark, with the majestic rhythm of "Footsteps Fade If Not Your Pain," that you start to hear anything that diverges from the style of the opening track. Each of these songs is richly textured with different instruments, like the acoustic guitar and weepy synths of "Sparkling Legions Turn To Black," but they all move in the same gradual way. That Epilogues For The End Of The Sky is 76 minutes long is par for the course for Van Wey, but it could've benefitted from a shrewd editor. After the overwhelming Safety In A Number, it's nice to hear Van Wey try something different. But the album is too vague and pared down to match his best work. That's only pared down by this artist's standards—for many others, these tracks would count as majestic, heart-rending epics. But in Van Wey's case, Epilogues For The End Of The Sky is a pleasant passage in his catalogue rather than an exciting new chapter.RESIDENT ADVISOR

This is ambience on a large scale from Brock van Wey, the Bay Area producer who writes as bvdub. On this grandly titled album he shows how it is possible to think of small, shifting musical units in a big perspective, and the music responds really well to this approach on headphones. Often it creates a floating sensation, while on excerpts like ‘Footsteps Fade If Not Your Pain’ a delicate piano floats over the top. Meanwhile ‘Sparkling Legions Turn to Black’ uses a far off chant, conducting powerful emotions through carefully constructed foreground loops. The album works well in a single listen, creating a powerful atmosphere that washes over the listener on headphones, though equally it can reward the casual approach of dipping in. Music to leave your head in a calm place, whatever time of day you choose to experience it. Ben Hogwood 5 out of 5DMC WORLD MAG

Il sodalizio tra Bvdub (Brock Van Wey) e la Glacial Moviments di Alessandro Tedeschi continua a produrre lavori di notevole bellezza. Dopo gli unanimi consensi ottenuti con lo splendido “Erebus” (2013) realizzato insieme a Loscil ed il precedente “The Art Of Dying Alone” (2010), arriva il terzo capitolo di questa riuscita collaborazione. A testimoniare il rapporto speciale che lega Brock Van Wey ad Alessandro Tedeschi c’è “Remember (Translations Of Mørketid)” del 2011, rilettura di Bvdub dell’album “Mørketid” del musicista romano a firma Netherworld. L’immaginario onirico di Bvdub si fonda sull’idea di perdita e sulla convinzione che ogni cosa svanisca inevitabilmente nel nulla, riducendo anche la morte a pura ossessione.Questo mondo ricostruito evoca un territorio etereo e dilatato, abitato da voci e presenze che rendono vivo quel passato che, in caso contrario, sarebbe perso per sempre. bvdubUn territorio costantemente attraversato dalla memoria, che intreccia insieme passato e presente, mescolando ricordi ed emozioni in un tutt’uno non più distinguibile. Rispetto a The Art Of Dying Alone le sonorità di quest’ultimo “Epilogues For The End Of The Sky” perdono peso in tristezza per acquistarne in egual misura in bellezza, in un continuum emotivo che trova significato nelle regioni più profonde dell’inconscio. L’album prende avvio con lo splendido brano On Deaf Hearts Your Prayers They Fall che descrive un mondo “altro”, popolato da voci diffuse ed eteree e da una luminosità più rarefatta e glaciale. Le atmosfere di With Broken Wings & Giants Tall si caricano di una maggiore e più grave densità. La malinconia 0_320387_df5d230f_origsembra riemergere dal passato in Sparkling Legions Turn To Black, attraversando ritmi più distesi che raggiungono la serenità nel finale. Lo splendore e la purezza di Clouds Besiege What You Remain si caratterizza per trame dense ed ipnotiche, fortemente dilatate. I ritmi si fanno più techno-dub nell’accattivante Footsteps Fade If Not Your Pain, mentre la nostalgica Love Is Never Asking Why e It All Ends With The Coming Sky diventano lo specchio di un’anima inquieta e silenziosa. Uno degli album ambient più significativi dell’anno. Voto: 7,5/10DISTORSIONI

“Shhhhh! I think the good part is just about to…no, not yet….” I constantly have that thought in mind as I chill out thought Brock Van Wey’s latest acoustic experiment. There’s enough audio here to fill an entire CD (should you measure things by that quaint standard) and all of it brews a strong cup of expectation with little sense of release after its over. Track titles are rather poetic: “On Deaf Hearts Your Prayers They Fall” and “Your Painted Armor Aches to Crack” and “Clouds Besiege What You Remain” are all interesting titles here, and we all know what it feels like to be besieged by clouds. Van Wey does as well, and he is an expert at laying in a siege composed of little more than mist and vapor. These tracks offer soundscapes, they offer ambiguity, yet they offer little in the way of rhythm. Van Wey eschews melody, scorns harmony, and slows rhythm until it loses a race to continental drift. But when they excel Van Wey expands timbre, challenges form, and brings audio texture to a high art form. His lyrics aspirate the breath of the damned, his message informs you to chill out already, and his timbre is the eternal longing of the human soul. Yeah, its weird, spaced out music, but it feels like a revelation.INK 19

Dub im Namen, aber nicht in der Musik. Brock Van Wey ist der Mann hinter BVDUB, stammt aus der Bay Area, war in der Rave- und Deep-House-Szene aktiv, aber interessierte sich immer auch schon für beatfreie Ambient-Sounds.Er lebte in China, kehrte nach San Francisco zurück, und widmet sich nun unter dem Namen BVDUB fließenden, sanften Tönen, wie man sie als Tradenmark von Glacial Movements kennt. Flächige, sanfte, fast orchestral anmutende Sounds – rein instrumental – treffen hier auf punktuellen Klavier-Einsatz, und es gibt nichts, was die maximale Entspanntheit dieser Musik stört, die bei all dem aber auch nie banal wirkt.Schön, dass dieses Label auch dem für diese Klänge idealen CD-Format die nötige gestalterische Aufmerksamkeit widmet.OX-MAG

Il paraît impossible de suivre raisonnablement toutes les sorties du productif Bvdub. En effet, non content de distribuer sa livraison de plusieurs disques annuels, celui-ci ne s’est jamais distingué pour sa concision.C’est que les atmosphères qui se dégagent des digressions électroniques du Californien se méritent. Pour être compréhensibles, elles doivent prendre le temps de s’installer, se répéter et muter légèrement. C’est dans ces détails que le nectar du travail de Bvdub devient intelligible.Certes, sa discographie contient des chapitres moins palpitants et l’on comprendra aisément les sceptiques, mais l’immersion dans l’univers de Brock Van Wey saura être rendue au centuple à quiconque en percera l’entrée d’apparence vannée. Cela semble d’autant plus vrai depuis quelques sorties. Discrètement, et de manière presque imperceptible, l’ensemble se fait moins granuleux et plus cristallin. En attendant Heartless, qui sortira dans près d’un mois chez n5MD, l’Américain publiait Epilogues for the End of the Sky au mois d’avril pour le compte de Glacial Movements Records, firme à laquelle il manifeste une fidélité durable malgré quelques piges chez Home Normal et donc n5MD. Sur Epilogues for the End of the Sky, Bvdub propose donc des compositions plus éthérées que par le passé. Essentiellement arythmique et minimaliste, la deep-ambient qu’il concocte tutoie le post-dubstep. A l’instar des méandres de With Broken Wings and Giants Tall, les décompositions vocales alternent entre voiles discrets et tourments plaintifs désespérés que n’aurait pas reniés le Burial des débuts. En huit morceaux répartis sur plus d’une heure, Bvdub propose donc, avec ce disque d’ambient synthétique, une véritable immersion dans un univers aussi oppressant et glacial qu’optimiste et transcendant.INDIE ROCK MAG

Background/Info: Brock Van Wey aka Bvdub is back on track unleashing a new opus in addition to his endless discography. American producer and DJ is already involved for numerous years and is familiar with different genres like deep-house, d’n’b, ambient… Content: This album totally fits to the ambient format of Glacial Movements. The evasive atmospheres of this opus have something elevating. You slowly feel like you are joining a higher dimension, something astral and a bit into meditation. The compositions are made with delicacy and refined sound treatments. + + + : Bvdub in a way reminds us the essence of ambient music. This work is an antidote to the dark-ambient productions I’m familiar with. Music becomes a caress, which is delicately touching your soul. The wafting sensation of the music brings you into a total state of prosperity. I enjoyed the gracefulness of the work symbolized by fine, crystalline sound sculptures and space-like ambiences. The music has a strong visual appeal, which could be the right soundtrack for a movie and/or documentary.– – – : My reviews are more devoted to dark-ambient productions so this album is entirely to the contrary. Conclusion: “Epilogues For The End Of The Sky” is what I would simply call a beautiful album. It makes people feeling more relaxed and peaceful in their body and their soul.Best songs: “Footsteps Fade If Not Your Pain”, “Sparkling Legions Turn To Black”, “Your Painted Armor Aches To Crack”.Rate: (7).SIDE LINE