Another beautifully packaged release from Russian label Cold Graey, For the Travellers Sadly Walking in Ever Mist is the excellent fifth album from the mysterious Instant Movie Combinations, taking its title from the closing track on his 2007 work Shipyard.  Drone is very much the order of the day here, the opening track “Moon Sea and Shipwreck” billowing in on what could be the opening chord of an orchestral work, and staying like that for the duration of the track.  This is music where the slightest, most subtle changes in tone or arrangement make a big difference to the feel of the work, and one becomes gradually aware of additional sounds occuring within the steady hum.  In a sense this is a recording to switch off from, and to allow oneself to drift away whilst the sound shifts delicately around.

The track that follows, “Jungle Book” is build upon a gently ebbing and flowing tone, that seems to chatter away like a ghostly organ with a single chord held down.  The third piece “Canoe” seems to exist purely as an unchanging drone with none of the touches of the previous tracks, and in some ways it is the strongest of the three, seeming to disregard anything beyond the purity of the tone.  These three tracks are the core of the release and might act as a good introduction to somebody interested in drone, but the running time is tripled with the addition of two pieces that each last over twenty minutes.

The artist notes that these two are ‘not for use with the main part’, but are present for a ‘more profound perception.’  Whilst one was getting used to the notion of short drone tracks (of about seven minutes), these longer works are more typical – nothing really happens but one is drawn into the sound and eventually enveloped.  In essence, “The Master’s Pipe” is a deep, industrial sounding throb, whilst “Catalepsy #1” uses a much higher drone and allows other tones to shimmer around it.  The longer one listens, the more one hears – whether the sounds were there all the time or it is just the way the ear and brain respond is one of the mysteries of experiencing drone music.

www.myspace.com/instantmoviecombinations