Album Notes

"Into The Maelström, Vol. 1: The Tower By Night. LIVE: November 6, 2011" is the third solo release from Chester County,
Pennsylvania-based ambient artist Har, guitarist/bassist/Chapman Stickist for Beta-Lactam Ring Records recording artists Christus & The Cosmonaughts.

"Into The Maelström" is an ongoing series of long form, live-in-the-studio solo dark ambient improv sets by Har, usually performed during his weekly online dark-ambient radio show "Nightscaping" on Stillstream.Com (Sunday nights at 5:30PM Eastern / 4:30PM Central). These are performed entirely in real-time with no overdubbing, using a variety of highly processed stringed instruments and occasional triggered field recordings - with no synths, MIDI pickups, etc used.

"Vol. 1: The Tower By Night" was recorded and broadcast live to listeners world-wide on Sunday, November 6th, 2011 in Har's studio "Ice Station Zebra" during the special "Week After Halloween" edition of "Nightscaping".
It was performed entirely on his 8-string electric guitar, an extended-range instrument with two additional bass-range strings along with the other typical six guitar strings. A variety of playing techniques are used including two-handed tapping as well as treating the guitar as a kind of percussion instrument - striking the body, neck and strings with fists and open hands. The resulting sounds are highly processed and looped in real-time using an arsenal of hardware effects and pedals.
Processed field recordings captured whilst climbing inside the Assateague Lighthouse at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island, Virginia were also triggered at various key points to add chilling ambient sound-fields containing haunted distant voices and footsteps during the performance - sometimes providing a feeling of massive, ancient unearthly mechanics, within a cavernous vertical landscape.

The combined results are a sixty-six minute sonic journey through a dark, mysterious and foreboding Autumnal landscape that can be alternately darkly soothing and terrifyingly haunted.

It's not lighthearted "chill-out ambient" to gently fall asleep to - but then depending on your current state of mind...perhaps it is. Keep an eye over your shoulder though, regardless....

NEW 12/12/2011 - there is now a new promo video for "The Tower By Night" with a longer audio excerpt! See it at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mquReKUheek

Har's music has been played on such well-known ambient/space-music radio shows as NPR's legendary Stars End and Hearts of Space, as well as online stations such as Stillstream.Com (for which he is also the host of the weekly online dark-ambient radio show "Nightscaping").

For more information including Har's bio, his other releases, streaming audio/video media and more - please visit:
http://www.ambientguitarist.com

CREDITS:

Har: processed 8-string guitar, field recordings.

Performed, recorded, and broadcast live in the studio with no overdubs on the weekly online radio show “Nightscaping” on Stillstream.Com, November 6th, 2011.

Produced & recorded by Har.

All music © 2011 Har. All artwork © 2011 Har.