The entire broken-down/glitch/lowercase aesthetics was all the rage in experimental/avant circles in the late 90s/early 2000s as exemplified by the output of German labels Kompakt, Raster-Noton and Mille Plateaux (as well works of Ryoji Ikeda, Curd Duca, Jan Jelinek etc). While glitch never went away completely (see vaporwave for a proof), its rare to run into any new records that explore the same ideas as aforementioned labels/artists.
Enter Aaron Oppenheim (Andrew Weathers Ensemble, Real Life Rock & Roll Band) and Cumberland County, his first solo album. According to liner notes, CC is a tribute to Windham Hill, legendary new age label, yet those expecting traditional ambient/new age sounds better looks elsewhere.
“September Seas” is the sound of Windham Hill trademark ambience reassembled, chopped up and spitted out. Not for the faint of heart (and certainly not for those with seizures/epilepsy due to strobe effects in the video), this 10-minute trip should appeal to those that like their ambience served with an extra glitchy sauce on top.
Cumberland County is out now on Full Spectrum Records
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