Album Notes

There is a new movement of loop-based, often metal-infused, guitar drone artists that are beginning to capture our attention. Many of these artists create strong soundscapes, but few achieve the excellence of Fear Falls Burning, Aidan Baker, Jason Sloan, and a few others. Out of nowhere comes German axe prodigy, Martin Fuhs. One listen to II and you will realize why his Seconds in Formaldehyde deserves to be counted amongst the very best in the genre. Fuhs sense of space in his arrangements is awe inspiring. But he also has a very sophisticated emotive intent. Never satisfied to simply drone on darkly, his monicker begins to make sense: Fuhs compositions comprise an inspiring metaphor for the building of notes, harmonics, and chords structures that form a living and breathing sonic entity that is Seconds in Formaldehyde.

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"It's pretty impossible to not be intrigued by a record that features the legend: "This music was created with the pure power of the guitar drone." Especially when those words prove to be absolutely true. The record begins with nearly 15 minutes of abstract drift, a wash of delicate low end flutter, soft swells of oceanic drone, ultra minimal and gorgeously languid, the opening track a barely there whisper of sound. So gentle and soothing. Track two introduces that previously mentioned 'pure power' with a coruscating dronescape all keening crumbling distortion, moaning steel strings, a dense reverberation of coruscating grind and scrape, all smeared into a surprisingly melodic sea of blown out buzz. The final track is over half the record, clocking in at nearly half an hour, and revisits the dark tranquility of the opening track, a stark landscape of drifting bell like tones, distant streaks of muted feedback, slow motion pulses of warm low end, and stretched out partial melodies. A gorgeous bit of night sky glimmer, that toward the very end introduces some abstract distorted guitars, a slow motion wash of rumbling buzz that shifts and shimmers, a huge swaying mass of grizzled guitar growl that gradually fades into nothing...Essential listening for fans of the drone guitar, especially Fear Falls Burning, Troum, Taiga Remains and the like..."

-Aquarius Records (www.aquariusrecords.org)