The Seven Fields of Aphelion - Periphery

The Seven Fields of Aphelion
Periphery
Graveface Records

Black Moth Super Rainbow’s Maux Boyle has recently taken up the moniker The Seven Fields of Aphelion and released an ambient album accompanied by more than a dozen of her multiple exposure photographs depicting the dissolving contrast of nature and ruinous industrial age artifacts (think, the opening credits of Twin Peaks). She has cited, among other things, “circuitry,” “sorrow,” and “getting lost” as influences. It could go without saying that the project has its clichéd pretensions (i.e. songs with titles like “Saturation:Arrhythmia” and “Sunburst Chemicals”), however, it also proves to be sonically satisfying on some level.

Comprised of synthesizers and piano, the twelve tracks on Periphery manage to avoid the pomposity that tends to come with ambient music. They never burst with crass “climaxes” and they do manage to play steadily like the soundtrack of your mind melding with the hum of machinery gently enveloping you on a warm summer evening. There’s nothing overdramatic about the release. It doesn’t seem to travel through sonic landscapes, but submerse you in a single “field” and hold you there for 46 minutes. Unfortunately (although possibly intentionally), the album peaks at its second track, “Grown,” the most hopeful of the release. After building some momentum the album falls back into a haze of elegant contradictions, finally fizzling out unexpectedly on the slightly paranoid “Starlight Aquatic.” While Periphery lacks drama, it evokes far more sophisticated contemplation than likely from its peers. – Izzy Cihak