Paul Hares’ The Magic of Awareness is a tidal pool of handcrafted sounds and shadowy improvisations.
Hailing from Russia, Hares is a true auditory sculptor, as this album finds him manipulating various recordings and noises into vast ambient seascapes. Across the album’s two side-length tracks, Hares experiments and treats analogue tapes with a whole array of effects, letting his emotions take the lead. When he finds a particular sound or mood that suits him, he leans into it and lets the music become an extension of himself. You really can’t go wrong with an artist that becomes an explorer within their own work.
Magic Awareness is comprised of pulsating drones, unexpected glitches and slowly cruising waves of ethereal tones. All of the music here is distorted by the hum and other lo-fi textures of a crinkled old home-recorded cassette. The album is almost like the ghost of a forgotten personally-dubbed tape. You almost never hear full samples of pre-recorded music; instead you get a sort of impression of past songs and feelings. A foggy memory of what it once was.
The music overall is leisurely and airy enough to be relaxing, if a bit haunting at times. For instance, the oscillating bell-like waves in the middle of “Awareness Side,” can easily lull you into an uneasy trance.
If you consider yourself a follower of Brian Eno, Daphne Oram or Kammarheit, then you need to pick up Paul Hares’ The Magic of Awareness before it sells out. Grab it today from Aural Canyon Records.
-KH
