Locust – Weathered Well

Totally stole from Eno on track 2 but it's a good album. I knew of him from track 1, Prospero, which appeared on Excursions in Ambience 2. The rest of the album is about what I expected based on that song. A solid 4, I guess, for the era.

An Apollo release that definitely stands the test of time. Even today this music sounds remarkably fresh, dark and sinister with shades of light thru the studio windows! Not really geared for the dance floor tho there are percussion elements the atmospheres created on this release are really subtle and melodic. This along with Robert Leiner's Visions of the Past should have never gone out of print hint hint please perhaps re-release with bonus material on cd!

This is the best album by Locust. This is an amazing dark album filled with outstanding musics, "Prospero" is my favourite music, the rest of the musics are also lovely and a journey to the underdark world, something like Alice in Wonderland in terror version or Faun´s labyrinth, expect musics that will make you imagine surrealistic creatures, ghotic strange complex places, Dantesc situations and a fast trip with "Music about love". If you love Dark music then this album is a must!!!, this is also an adequated album to listen while watching Maya kulenovic paintings ;-)

Mark Van Hoen delivers his debut as Locust with _Weathered Well_, a dark, ambient journey on the sorely missed Apollo label. The low throbs of “Prospero” accentuate the mysterious melody, while the near-chorale of “Moist Moss” infuse the track with almost a baroque sensibility. The skewed harmonies of “Weathered Gate” underscore the club-ready beat, and the outer space laser wars of “Tamed” are punctuated by subtle spoken-word samples. “Still” maintains a zero-gravity iciness throughout, and I’m not sure what kind of romance he’s thinking of on “Music About Love,” but it’s a ominous and dense one indeed. Almost a companion piece, “Lust” goes even deeper with a plodding bass and what sounds like a acidified didgeridoo. And, finally, “Fawn” skulks around with its metallic tones. Deep and dark.

Excellent experiment into ambient with frequent beats. The production is terrific, the songwriting is mostly inspired, and lulled but menacing atmosphere of this cd is very strong.

The hypnotic nature of the slower songs is so powerful that even when the cd gets more frenetic, you don't mind or notice much. This cultured sound is brilliant for anyone who wants to explore into mid-90s ambient that isn't as sluggish as, say, Biosphere (who I also recommend), but still isn't meant for the dancefloor. 5/5