released November 11, 2013

Dust storms happen to be very romantic. Not romantic in the “hey baby, let’s get it on” way, but in the way that they are a complete sensual experience. It could be a perfectly clear sunshiny day-not a cloud in the sky, when…you smell it. You always smell it first before anything else. Depending on where you are, you can sometimes see a dust storm approaching. I remember seeing a dust storm on the outskirts and half of the big open sky was an amber color. You could even see a line in the sky: serene, calming, crystal blue on one side and wild, turbulent amber on the other. What I miss is that you can see the weather, and see it approaching and forming. As the dust storm rolls in the scent of dust becomes stronger. The full sunlight slowly fades and shadows appear, altering colors and perceptions. Sounds become muffled and you hear the wind. Even though you are in the same place, in a house or a car, it definitely feels like a different place. You can see how colors and the light and shadows are shifting, you can smell the dust, sounds are muted, and you can even faintly taste dust. What you don’t realize at the time is that small dust particles are swirling around and being deposited everywhere in a sand blanket. Depending on the dust storm, you could have enough dust outside your door that makes it hard to open or close your door. Or maybe it’s less. The dust is everywhere; in windowsills, on your car, in your hair, in your clothes. You can’t directly see it on your clothes but you can smell it and if you shake out your clothes it falls off. In the middle of the dust storm it seems as though you’re in a parallel universe. It completely envelops you. It’s subtle yet very powerful, very soft, harsh, and gentle, all at the same time.

Robin Montgomery

Sergey [S] is a tireless Russian dronemuzik composer who records under the monikers Exit In Grey and Five Elements Music (amongst many others), and whose back catalog resembles that of Aidan Baker in terms of scale and quality. A while ago, you could randomly grab any given Aidan Baker disc and rest assured that he'd deliver an impeccable album of billowing ambience rippling with emotional impressionism and melodic subtlety. The same can be said for pretty much anything that Sergey [S] touches, with the bulk of his releases short-run albums self-produced in his motherland, with only a few albums seeing European release. We listed a couple of things that Sergey put out through Mystery Sea, that Belgian proprietor of night-ocean drones, both of which were very impressive; and everything we've managed to scrounge up has been amazing.


Dust Storm - a collaborative project with the enigmatic Fanum (who seems to be the work of another Russian character named Ascet) - does not sway our esteemed opinion of Sergey [S]. The three tracks brilliantly embrace the analogy of dense sound amorphousness with the harsh/soft, soothing/terrifying duality from a looming sand storm. The suspended tones from Sergey and Ascet spiral slowly into sad, fugue-like melodies that are cloaked in the slow-motion miasma as if melding the cold, deep-sea waters and the boiling methane spewing thermal vents. The shortwave radio textures of the album's finale bring more of the psychological disruption found on early John Duncan works, but much of Dust Storm recalls the best of Troum / Maeror Tri. Not sure how limited this album is, but stuff from Russia arrives at a snail's pace, so if we run out, it might take us a while to restock...

aquarius records