INVERCAULD "Tiamhaidh" CD Reviews

From the Heathen Harvest webzine (Germany)
The Canadian label Cyclic Law has been turning out a number of fairly new and incredibly original artists as of late. Amongst these recent offering stands Invercauld's album titled "Tiamharoh." "Inverclaud"is a musical project created by D. Finley to explore his personal interest in his gaelic background and the rain and fog of the Gaelic lands. Finley began recording music of a slow and exploratory nature fin the winter of 2002-22003. These recordings have been compiled to reach a wider audience and have manifested as the first full length Invercauld album.
An interest in Gaelic history and lands is not necessary to enjoy "Tiamharoh" though a desire to lay back and allow yourself the opportunity to be absorbed by the listening experience is a prerequisite. "Tiamharoh" is much more than the musings of an amateur trying to transfer experience to sound. D. Finley has distilled an authentic psychic experience by carefully cultivating a sound track for a misty world of fog and shrouded formst. Through dark electronics and subtle ambient elements D. Finley has given voice and sound to the mystical nature of the thick Gaelic fog and rain and the lands and people it dominates..
"Inverclaud" starts with the opening track "An Dorcha." "An Dorch"a breaks the tethering that holds the human imagination back and gently begins the drifting journey out into the black recesses of forgotten ascestrol lands. The song begins with dark slabs of electronic drone reverberating in a cold and sterile emptiness. The only activity is the subtle crackling of unseen energy. The music instills the sensation of drifting away from solidity and the material and instigates a dissolving of mental tethers. A lone bell chimes dimly through the sterile emptiness. Drawing you forth and giving definition to the formless. A slight tension is felt in the music, a subtle uneasiness that instigates awareness. Half way through the track the listener with eyes closed and body relaxed will find their grip slipping…
By the second song “Cunnartach” you are likely to forget your life on this earth and feel more like a lost satellite on the fringes of our universe. “Cunnartach” is as slow and relaxing as its predecessor with just enough activity to keep the listener floating between consciousness and total mental dispersion. The cold and sterile drones are accented on “Cunnartach” by a slow and steady loop of gentle pulsing electronics that slightly warms the track. The listener is impregnated with a sense of directionless travel. Akin to finding one self lost in a desert or ocean where all ways lead to no where. The incessant pulsing electronics define the cycle of your orbit as you spin without guidance or destination through your own inner reaches. “Cunnartach” leaves you cold, lonely and lost in a dense fog that obscures all..
The third song, “Airsnealach” features more kinetic energy though here again the song induces a sense of loneliness and reflection. The song has a very fluid feel and parts of the music recalled for me the sounds of the ocean. After a few minutes the darkness and space created by “Airsnealach” reminded me of drifting alone again lost at sea. A distant chiming in the distance recalls the sound of moored boats and the bells that ring when a wind blows through the vacant docks. Fishermens boats bob inthe water but no other life stirs. Though “Airsnealach” is slightly more active than the preceding songs, don't think for a moment that your journey through the thick fog enshrouded lands has quickened your journey is neither direct or under your own control now. By the time the song ends the journey seems more like a reflection that haunts a regretful person in old age than a journey fulfilled.
“Stoirmeil” is the fourth song on the album and it marks a mid point on this six song CD. The songs on "Invercauld" tend to bleed together allowing for a very deep and consistent listening experience. “Stoirmeil” has hints of percussive rhythm buried deep in the gurgling dark ambient but it remains in stride with the previous songs. As if gaining momentum by each song Finley teases the listener as he slowly delves deeper and deeper into the abyss.
The fifth song on the album is titled “Tiamharoh.” “Tiamharoh” is the beginning of a more sinister sound on "Invercauld." Finley's use of dark electronics becomes slightly threatening and ominous here. Though I would not say the music gets spooky or evil it's much more somber as it is cast in a world devoid of contrasts. Movement is clearly defined as monumental sounds bump, fall, and collide in the darkness. A sense of primordial forces forging life out of basic elements is present. The clear sound of dripping water gives the dark aural movements a grounded feeling. The listener feels witness to the beginning when ice and fire met and formed matter. Indeed, "Invercauld" is more than a conceptual dark ambient album it is a voyage for the imagination and a cinema for the mind.
The sixth song on the album is titled “Coirbte.” “Coirbte” marks the closing of the journey and perhaps the most aggressive track on the album. Whether traveling to the furthest nether regions of the north or penetrating the deep subconscious mind this marks the end of the listener's initiation into Invercauld's world of sound. The finale is marked by a menagerie of unsettling sounds that shift restlessly in the darkness. Now the darkness feels active and awoken. Elements of dissonance define the concentration of the song while attaining a tight grip on subtlety and control.
The seventh track that is titled "Duaichnidh." ""Duaichnidh" is the seventh track is the last piece of the journey so I leave some mystery to the master and will let you all discover this track yourselves. Radical Faeries that have established interest in dark ambient music will love this album. D. Finley has crafted a valuable contribution to this genre with "Invercauld." Reaching into the vast recesses of tradition and imagination D. Finley has returned with an effective and powerful narrative. Radical Faeries that thrive on subterranean music will covet this release. "Tiamharoh" is defined by the touch of a dark ambient master who knows how to wield both restraint and creativity. It will also be pleasing for dark ambient fans who seek an album with dark atmospheres that is not suffocating but rather expansive and reflective. Radical Faeries who enjoy mainstream ambient music but have never dipped into the colder dark waters of dark ambient will also find "Invercauld" to be a good launching point into this genre. Finley's mastery of sound is sure to appeal to ambient enthusiasts and will not come off as too dark or sinister for the uninitiated. Radical faeries with no experience with ambient music looking for an incredibly chill listening experience accented by dark movements will find this release to be consuming as well.
"Tiamharoh" has obvious ritual or spiritual applications with trance work, subconscious exploration, deep meditation and sacrament accompaniment for the brave being some prime recommendations. Faeries should be sure they are properly equipped for any journey they might choose to embark upon into uncharted regions. "Tiamharoh" will take you where you want just be sure you can swim these deep waters.

From the Aural Pressure webzine (U.K.)
There’s something decidedly cinematic about using the elements in ambient music, it has an ability just to nudge drones away from creating transmogrified realities toward transmogrifying your own current reality. So begins Invercauld’s long awaited “official” debut on Canada’s dark ambient monolith, Cyclic Law. As the debut release, outside a smattering of CDR releases, this reviewer only having the Stormy Night release, you can notice several themes that have flowed into this the 6th release from Cyclic Law. Doyle Finley is the man behind Invercauld whose album explores the misted and overcast landscape of ancient Gaelic history; Invercauld itself is a castle itself in Scotland, though the artist’s home country is America. Downpours drench nearly every track pelting the ruins where ghosts linger, blacksmiths clamour and the forlorn resonance of bells, under the growl of a bubbling thunder roiling across blasted, miserable hills and lochs long forgotten by an urban-obsessed world. The storm beetles its way into the granite mountains feeling out tunnels and crevasses, rocks cracking under the subtle pressure of the storm as it seeks out the memory of the people who once revered the land and sky, where ritual and memory defined a culture’s intimate association with nature and creation, as something other than in/convenience – earth quakes, boulders tear and are lost to vast caverns. Solace of the Celtic memory briefly pierces the storm in vestigial drifts of pipes and melody, veritable evanescing phantasmagoria that drive the seeking storm from despairing behemoth into one rancorous at the affront of those people stolen under its immemorial slumber into lands empty of soil and untainted sky. With that irremeable enlightenment the rain ceases on the last track, the storm swirls back to the sky, menace on its tongue as it reticulates a vengeful net of storm clouds across the heavens, across the cities.
Released as an edition of 500 in a richly textured digipak, Tiamhaidh will appeal to fans of Northaunt or other bleakly-inspiring dark ambient musicians.

From the Phosphor Magazine (Germany)
Invercauld is the name of a Scotish castle and a ship wrecked on May 10th 1864. The person behind the band Invercauld is D. Finley. It's not clear where he got the name of his project from. He presents a collection of lively industrial tracks, which are dark (of course), but also dynamic, due to fine sound particles and subtle samples that have been added. The harsher tracks, a sort of penetrating sonorities, like Airsnealach remind of the rumbling qualities of the Old Europa Cafe sound, whereas the more floating and atmospheric title track is a beautiful soundscape, mixing drones with water recordings. Tiamhaidh is inspired by the rain and fog ridden landscapes and history of his Gaelic ancestors. D. Finley did a nice job and made the sixth release by the canadian label Cyclic Law Records a recommended output.

From the Chaindlk webzine (U.S.A.)
Montreal, Canada, based label Cyclic Law's sixth release comes from American dark-ambientalist Invercauld, a project that has released a few CD-Rs but never an official debut, such as this one. "Tiamhaidh" is "inspired by the rain and fog ridden landscapes and history of his Gaelic ancestors". It's easy to make you think of rain, sound-wise, but harder to give an idea of the sound of fog. Invercauld, however, does a very good job at painting a dark and wet and cold atmosphere where nothing moves, except for air and humidity, through, across and beyond the leaves and branches of the forest's tree. Even the name sounds like it has something to do with the word "winter".In line with the tradition of Cyclic Law, this CD comes in a beautiful textured trifold sleeve whose graphics really aid those visuals.

From the Guts of Darkness webzine (France)
Un très belle oeuvre que cette nouvelle sortie Cyclic Law. Après quelques cd-rs édités de manière plutôt confidentielle, l'américain O. Finley, fort de ses origines gaéliques, s‚aventure dans les vastes étendues des contrées de ses ancêtres où la pluie bat la mesure du temps et déchire le rideau de brume. Telles une ammonite figée dans l‚ambre pour l‚éternité,les plages se succèdent en nappes épaisses et tour à tour rondes ou menaçantes, en sonorités figurant l‚orage qui gronde sans jamais éclater, la terre qui craque mais ne cède pas, le vent qui souffle sans écraser le fétu de paille humain. Sur une durée relativement courte pour un album de ce genre, les sept morceaux forment un tout homogène et prenant pour rendre une dark-ambient réminiscente des travaux de Lustmord ou Inade pour ne citer qu‚eux. Cette quête Œinitiatique‚ de l‚homme aux travers des quatre éléments est débarrassée de tout aspect ethnique (le Œrisque‚ lorsque l‚on s‚attaque à un héritage culturel personnel) : l'individu seul parcourt ces terres humides à la recherche d‚une quiétude perdue et observe sa place insignifiante dans cet univers si hostile. Sombre mais pas désespérée, lumineuse sans être optimiste, telle est la musique d'Invercauld. Un nouvel artiste à surveiller, et un label qui commence à creuser son trou (Cyclic Law, futur Cold Meat Industry ?) dans une scène par trop souvent parasitée. Superbe ! March 2004note 6/6