Silent Harbour – Silent Harbour

Dutchman Boris Bunnik already crafts deeper house and techno than most. Forever keen to experiment and push the boundaries, though, the man best known as Conforce has recently started a new moniker, Silent Harbour. It’s an alias which will see him explore more cerebral and conceptual sounds than ever before with the first fruits, a full length entitled Silent Harbour, due to be released on Danish imprint Echocord.

To explain the roots of the project it’s best to go right inside the mind of Bunnik, where he himself has been lost recently, exploring notions of isolation, deep-sea submersion, aquatic environments and all the abstract ambiance such places entail. Silent Harbour is about exploring the deep unknown, about slowing tempos without losing focus on details, about sound tracking the everyday movie that plays out at the bottom of the deepest darkest oceans of which we know so little…

Whilst all this might sound trite, listen to the ten tracks that make up the album and the concept shines through immediately: right from the opening sound you’re lowered below the sea’s surface as all sorts of little sonic plankton float by. Sunrays occasionally beam down from above; sometimes you’re in warm water, other times it’s colder, but always is there a gentle lull back and forth like the most soothing deep-sea swell.

Somehow Bunik even manages to soundtrack what seem like underwater wrecks... rusting metal, tinkling glass and swarms of predatory fish looking for a feed. There are even sections which speak of danger and peril, as if a storm is brewing miles above or as if a shark is on his way… on the other hand, though, there are also ages alive with a Spring-like optimism, where coral grows, aquatic plants flower and new ocean life is born.

So evocative is this album you’ll hardly notice that it has very few beats, instead you’re mind is busy painting the pictures to go with the sounds. As such, you wont need dancing shoes for this one, but rather strap on the scuba gear because it’s time to go deeper than ever before.