MYSTERY SEA 03 | Wilt | [white chrysalis in blue]
ARTWORK
front 
back
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
-"I
wanted to focus on aquatic activity where by
there would be a symbolism for growth or life.
I found a picture of a nuclear reactor
where the outer sides of the image
were black and these dark tubes seemed to pierce the center
where a pool of blue water highlighted by white held the reactor itself.
I imagined this to be a spanning ground for a cocoon,
possibly the birthing of a black hole butterfly.
And thus my opus had a concept.
The sounds represent the birthing on a molecular level,
a white chrysalis in blue."
-James
P. Keeler, September 2001.
PRESS RELEASE
WILT
(James P. Keeler's main musical vehicle) is a name currently
on everybody's lips in the field of experimental/dark ambient noise...
From project to project, sound sources may vary greatly, moulded by
a concept or a prevailing mood, but there's always some common denominator
& unique stamp.
For MYSTERY SEA, WILT has dived into its quietest realms so far,
offering a textured snaking audio-exploration of low submerged plateaux,
a flow of muffled clanks and ghostly resonances...
.white chrysalis in blue. is the soundtrack to a desolate laguna
under an orange pale light, a dark pool of decomposed thoughts bathed
with silvery-moon reflections, a path to oblivion...
along this rolling , breathing shapeless sea & deep below, .white
chrysalis in blue. unfurls revealing subtle minimal evolving
tones, composing the colours of a solemn drowned dream...
TRACKS
01.
submerge
02. dim
03. pierce
04. oxidize
05. collapse
06. evolution to the main sequence
07. evolution on the main sequence
08. evolution off the main sequence
09. evolution to the end
10. zero transformation
11. infinite matter defined
12. a beginnings end
LENGTH
58'43
REVIEWS
VITAL
WEEKLY 323|Frans de Waard
According
to the label, WILT (aka James P. Keeler)
is a name on everybody's lips these days, at least everybody in the
field of experimental/dark ambient noise.
Probably I am lurking in the wrong fields then, because I never heard
of WILT, nor of other projects by Keeler
(well, I know another Keeler, but that was somebody different).
Dark it is indeed. It sounds most of the times as slowed down tunes
from guitars, synths or maybe just the eerie hum of a loudspeaker. In
general very nice stuff, but in the end a bit long for the limited amount
of ideas WILT has out in it.
Around track eight, I began to wonder if I put the CD on repeat and
had started again.
When it would be just 40 minutes, I think this would have been a very
nice release; now it's a bit over long.
vital
weekly
RECYCLE
YOUR EARS|Nicolas Chevreux
James
Keeler, also known as Wilt, is an incredibly versatile
and productive musician. Releasing three full lengths albums (all of
a very high quality) in a bit more than a year long with several collaboration
and limited edition releases wasn't enough, and here comes "White
chrysalis in blue", a CDR released in a limited
edition of 100 copies, that announces the release of the massive and
impressive "Radio 1940", on yours truly's Ad Noiseam
label (I know, I am blased, but I wouldn't write this if I wasn't
genuinely impressed by James Keeler's talent).
This new CDR comes, as usual with Mystery Sea, as a very professional
and nice produced disc, and feature a kind of dark and tense music that
translates very well into music Wilt's idea for this record.
Allegedly inspired by a picture of a nuclear reactor, Wilt has
created here a surprisingly organic music. If this project's previous
albums were either very solemn and massive ("Black box aesthetics",
"Among a spacious fabric") or very noisy and incisive ("Wither"),
"White chrysalis in blue"
is a weirdly aquatic release, whose basses and echoes sound like the
slow rumbling of a deep sea. The sound is partly muffled, partly quite
dynamic, and the listener still enjoys the sudden outbursts of sound
that Wilt is known for. But "deep" is really the adequate
word here, for this CDR builds up quite fast on several layers of low
soundscapes and noises, low frequency noises and waves of long beats.
Never falling into an overly dark album, this disc is an assemblage
of carefully crafted sounds, and of subtle changes.
Obscure but not depressed, well composed and experimental but not too
abstract, Wilt shows here a new style that manages to both stick
to the concept of this disc and to be very efficient and seducive.
I genuinely think that Wilt is one of the best thing that has
happened to atmospheric music since Lustmord and Archon Satani.
Not a repetition of the previous works, "White chrysalis
in blue" is a coherent and original album, that would
perfectly fit on Spectre's "Nautilus" series. It is a very
good disc on its own, hopefully bringing even more recognition to this
project.
AMBIENTRANCE|David
J. Opdyke
Rated
: A-
Seekers
of deep, dark organic soundscenes ought to rush to score one of these
limited-to-100-copies cd-rs from Belgium's Mystery Sea label
(usually CD-RS are automatically relegated to the shorter Overview treatment,
but this one is worthy of full notice...)
Ruffling notes sputter sonar-like across a simmering expanse, seemingly
seeking through the light-though-oblique environs of "submerge"
; they encounter billowing clouds and occasional virulent eruptions.
Sedately passing through airy veils into luxurious states of dissipation,
"pierce" (7:55) does so gently. From the low rumbles of "collapse"
emerge brief swirls of gusty musical colors.
"infinite matter defined" (2:35) steams forth a microscopic
spew from boiling subatomic oceans, their wave action vaporizing into
nothingness. Other tracks emit such unearthly delights as bone-throbbing
currents and tonal wraiths ("dim"), shifting sands amid mechanical
undertones ("oxidize") and/or ephemeral, semi-symphonic movement
("evolution to the end")... all of the 12 tracks usually stew
with some of the above.
Within
wilt's white chrysalis in blue, 58 minutes of sublime
isolationism and transportive abstractions of sound define their own
strange, new world between your ears. Well done !
ambientrance
SoundVision|TJ
Norris
Wilt
is James Keeler (Adnoiseam, Organic Conversations,
The Rectrix).
NOTE : White Chrysalis in Blue is limited to only 100
CDR copies.
This deep, deep dark and almost raptuorously silent
disc is filled with an extreme cautious patience. Dim is the
sublime subtextual inverse of a Philip Glass opera.
Paced in ambiguous tones, the raw language spoken here is textured by
the use of flowing post-ambient structure.
Sitting here, mesmerized, Collapse disables my musculature.
There is a rare essence to the material covered here.
Keeler, who is influenced by industrial noise has brought
to life the echoes of its extreme.
Balanced with the filtered uncertainty of its course of action, the
atmosphere is illuminated with menacing phantoms and translucent poltergeists.
Evolution on the Main Sequence is the soundtrack at the end of
the universe.
This 12 track, hour long recording could make for an incredible film
or installation soundtrack.
A complex, multilayered affair filled with endless, lush drone, saturated
in atmosphere.
tj
norris
INCURSION|Richard
di Santo
Wilt is one
James P. Keeler, whose reputation and renown might not be as
widespread as these press notes might indicate, but who nevertheless
busies himself by making experimental dark ambient music. White
Chrysalis in Blue is certainly dark ambient at its most creeping
and sinister, and the music here is very well done, with an emphasis
on low end drones and submerged sounds. Taken independently, each track
is like a growing shadow that first appears in the corner and then begins
to cloak the entire room. But taken together, I can't help but feel
that there's a lack of diversity here; after listening for a while (there's
nearly an hour's worth of music here), my ears and my head would grow
tired of the same low-end rumblings, submerged sounds and sparse, open-ended
drones. Perhaps this would have been solved by releasing this music
as a short series of 7" records (the Drone Records catalogue, for
one, is a perfect example of how to present short yet very strong releases),
but as it stands there's too much sound here and not enough substance
to keep the listener completely interested throughout. But let's keep
our eyes and ears open for future works by Wilt.
Limited to 100.
incursion
DEEP
LISTENINGS |Gianluigi
Gasparetti
Wilt’s
sea is a stormy sea, saturated with electric frequencies or underwater
creatures’ whining. The moving waters are bleak and frightening, the
sense of obscurity appears invincible. Rather than the minimalist rarefactions
of the first two titles of this label, which had shown a more evident
delicacy of shading of that Sea of Mystery, Wilt prefers
a stronger, more defined, physical rather than metaphysical sound less
fluctuant but more apocalyptic, undoubtedly darkness-prone. Very few
concessions are granted to the listening, which confirms itself as demanding:
I remember the sudden, brief, chromatic opening of ‘Collapse’ which
penetrates length of extremely low frequencies just for a few seconds
before leaping back into the wild waves; or dense ‘Evolution in the
main sequence. As for the rest, we are in deep waters, in which the
echo of atmospherical explosions and the striking of huge lightning
turn out as wadded and extended, the images of a threatening, menacing,
afflicted world. This is an isolationist, great album, an endless oscillation
through every actual, possible world, a recap of Lull, Lustmord or Lilith’s
great work.
deeplistenings
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