Severence – Hidden Ceilings

Coming back to this a few years after my last listen and was surprised at how engaging I found it. I thought I'd maybe get a bit distracted as I ed the album being very focused on atmosphere, space and texture with not much in the way of melody and rhythm. But I was soon sucked into the album because, despite my recollections being essentially accurate, there's still a lot of dynamism, energy and - as other reviewers have mentioned - complexity here.
There's something appealingly procedural about the album, as though each track is an iterative step beyond the previous one: the sound stage isn't completely cleared between scenes, but elements of the set are moved around and added over time. Changes in the envelope patterns and filter textures are continuous but feel cyclical rather than arbitrary. If you're able to get lost in the music then a lot of details reveal themselves.
Certainly an album that deserves to be listened to on good speakers or headphones.

Stunning textures and melodies washing in and out of earshot..A great and relaxing album.

This is the best album of 2013. I don't know how many times I've played this album at night on long drives, but it's extremely addictive, and completely satisfying. You can't get to know this album by samples and short clips. It has to be experienced from start to finish to be understood, but once you do that, you can hear what makes it so special. I feel there's basically an induction phase to this album, that goes on for about the first 4 tracks. This is not to say that those tracks aren't good, because they are. Track #1 is one of the best on the album, but these first 4 lull you into a sense of calm, and prepare you to be dazzled by more complexity later. I love the way this album is laid out. Perfect.

Chord stabs hit differently timed delays, which travel through effect chains in which the parameters slowly shift. Other than that, there is only, occasionally, a muted kick drum. Earlier tracks kind of an aquatic wash. Attacks grow sharper as the CD progresses.

Yagya, Pole, Vladislav Delay, Chain Reaction, Kit Clayton, Deepchord fans - YOU MUST GET THIS!! A album that could be one of the best dub-techno albums releases this year! This is deep absorbing dub elemental minimalism music with ambient that gradually manifests into moments of minimalist dub-techno with a kind of techno soundscape that's submerged somewhere between dub mand grey abstractness. A album which is part Vladislav Delay/Pole, part Deepchord, part Kit Clayton, part Yagya yet still with its own sound character makes this an appealing immersive listen throughout. The mood and pace of the album is very well put together while never really drifting into full blown rhythmic orientated dub-techno; but wonderfully incorporating the fundamental bare structures that make dub-techno so hypnotic and addictive as Severence manipulates, tweaks, sequences, implements clever use of dub-techno related delays, reverbs, echoes, glitch, minimalism and of-course dub to great effect. This is music where the ambient will float you, the abstract will chill you, and the dub-techno will certainly immerse you into a hypnotic state. A artist I shall now be very much be keeping an eye-on, and with all credit to the increasingly brilliant BineMusic label for bringing this very recommended release... A well deserved 9.5/10.