‘Deep_Frieze’ by Sleep Research Facility

SLEEP Research Facility is the project of Scotland’s Kevin Docherty and has been described as ‘sleep-conducive beatless ambient music which is both artistic as well as functional’. Ironically, perhaps, Docherty would consider it a real compliment if anyone ventured so far as to describe his music as a cure for insomnia. Previous releases include ‘Nostromo’ (2001), ‘Dead Weather Machine’ (2004) and ‘DWM Re:Heat’ (2004). ‘Deep_Frieze’ is Sleep Research Facility’s second outing on the Cold Spring label and the blue-grey CD-insert is folded into four quarters which depict the South Pole and its accompanying lines of latitude and longitude on both sides. However, the five lengthy tracks on this hour-long release are completely untitled, so to make things slightly easier I will refer to them numerically. Track 1 is a perpetual wall of rigorous sound that sweeps across an ambient landscape consisting of a mere handful of barely detectable tones. It’s what you might hear if you were a child in the womb and your mother was caught out in a blizzard. But it does have a gentle calming effect that makes you want to drift off into your own thoughts and imagine giant ice floes drifting across Antarctic seas. Track 2 is another high dose of claustrophobic minimalism. Between them, the distant rumbling and endless hissing conjure up visions of cold nights spent shivering under motorway bridges. This is noise pollution recycled as the soundtrack to a dream, although later on it is possible to hear light snatches of music here and there. Track 3 has more of a lazy, aquatic quality which resembles the sound an underground claxon might make as it reverberates through the broken hull of a deep-sea wreck. At one point, Docherty even throws in a violin and, overall, this track will cause even the most stubborn of coffee-fetishists to depart immediately for the Land of Nod. Track 4 retains the rhythmic alarm that brought the third track to a close and adds to it rolling waves of encroaching soundscapes that bring with them a rising sense of elation. This becomes slightly harsh at one point, but is not quite harsh enough to disturb your beauty sleep. An electronic cacophony lasts for about 30 seconds and resembles a tree full of twittering starlings, whilst various sibilations and radiophonic dialogue jostle for position. Finally, Track 5 erects another unassailable wall of sound that is filled to the brim with soft industrial drones and a soothing hum. More radio frequencies are added from time to time, but in general the main thrust of this track is the aural rising and falling that gradually piles layer upon layer of cascading sound at your feet in the way a cat presents you with a dead mouse. At first you find it difficult to deal with, at least until you realise that it all seems so very natural. ‘Deep_Frieze’ … time to chill out. You can find out more at: www.resonance-net.com