Faru - Through darkness comes light [SS24]

Through darkness comes light is the first release of Berlin based ambient artist Faru. The 5 track ep takes the listener on a journey through the fog filled mountains of Indonesia. Through darkness comes light isolates the movements of nature and the artists experience, resulting in new sonic landscapes that reveal an inseparable relationship between music and soundscape. The natural orchestra is presented in a dream-like manner as diverse as the landscape itself. The sounds will have you drift through different states of mind.

01. Through Darkness Comes Light

The beginning of a journey, planned with uncertainty, on purpose, to nurture adventure, happy accidents and to challenge comfort in order to bring the inner self to a new horizon. The first part takes me to Mount Bromo, a ring of 4 massive volcanoes, in east Java. Arriving at dusk, I can still feel the bumpy road in my wiggling and muffled brain. While I’m expecting a broad landscape of volcanoes, all I can see is fog, the densest fog I've ever seen. After a while some unknown sound emerged from the fog - dark, muffled, rumbling waves of noise coming and going. Giving me the feeling of something gigantic, a million years old creature sleeping in the fog. I can not sleep, I’m too excited if the darkness turns to light at some point, even though I’m really exhausted from the trip. The clock is ticking, the second hand welcoming the new day with just one tick. Still almost 5 hours till sunrise. I enjoy the tired mind, let it wander and spectate the nonsense, lifting my mood and feeling my body slipping into a state between waking and sleeping. In the Background, devastatingly deep bass pulses set adrift and the ceiling turns into rays of sun, expanding like a floating pad to accompany the rumble. Gentle soundscapes and muffled field recordings provide rich and deep textures along the wait.

02. Gunung Bromo

It’s 4 am, the alarm clock is announcing the new day. Seems like I fell asleep. I feel more exhausted than ever. Looking into the bathroom, the dripping, rusty sink doesn't invite for a shower, but it provides a cave like feeling. Time to get out. The air feels strange, something new, really thick, filled with tiny dust particles, which makes breathing truly hard. As I walk 10 steps I can see the light changing already the mood. The short walk feels like 10km, but the stars in the sky are too endless to care for anything else. I reached my spot, exhausted, but with a sense of accomplishment, far away from the common tourist trails. There is nobody around except the some birds. The sun is hiding somewhere behind a mountain, climbing its way to the top. More rays emerge in subtle but high pitched pads. Within a few seconds, the sun pops out. An explosion of light, illuminating the whole area and revealing a vast sea of clouds, who seem to effortlessly drift over the land like soft played strings. Light but dense shimmering pads accompany the dark floating volcanic orchestra. As the sun reaches my eyes, I can hear the choir of nature singing in a dream-like manner. A picture hard to describe with words. All thoughts are gone, all is left is the immense contrast of light, sounds and the dark volcanic orchestra in the distant.

03. Sunrise at Bratan

As I move further east to Bali, straight to the Mountain regions in the center, I stop at the water Temple of Bedugul. Getting up before dawn again, I make my way to the lake to watch the sunrise. The darkness boosting the excitement on what I’m going to see and hear. Birds starting to wake up, singing in distant echoes. As the sun comes up I can hear soft pads floating like clouds on the dark, mirror like lake. The morning dew is dripping from plants, playing its own melody and rhythm, fitting to the wonderful image of a sky drowning in water. Bright tones highlight a slowly developing melody, and the sense is just a blissful floating space.

04. Mountain Adventures

The voyage further north takes me to the Jatiluwih Rice Terraces, next to the volcano Bali. Mountain ranges sleeping in ghostly layers of clouds, hiding their face in the shadows of the night. Farmers start their day with the first rays of light. I capture the calm atmosphere with chanting harmonics which fold and unfold like patterns in nature to generate a deep meditational state of mind. As I wander deeper into the fields I start to feel the centuries of old culture with every breath, expanding in a mixture of dense pads and endless textures accompanied by the surrounding nature and animals.

05. Sukacita

Retreating from the mountains to Bali's coast lines, everything starts to rise--temperature, humidity, population and spirit. Organ like pads, at the border of distortion expand through the whole frequency spectrum. It's a harsh contrast to the past days. Within all the hustle and bustle there is one specific voice which stands out in the crowd, evolving over a long timespan until it reaches its full force to jump into the foreground, accompanied by arpeggiated synth rhythms, blending all sounds into a wall of joy. The 12 minute build up leaves the listener in an uncertain state of when it will reach a climax.