Asva - Presence of Absence [2011]

Asva - Presence of Absence
[Important, 2011]
genre: drone, ambient, dark ambient, noise, post-rock, doom
Album review by Sovereign

Asva have changed… this is a new band under the sovereignity of Stuart Dahlquist . There is no metal music as it was in “what you dont know is frontier/ but there is a drone atmosphere with noise and slow melodies which provides another kind of drone/amnbient music. There is a mix o modern Earth and Tim Hecker with Stars of the Lid and Troum over the rotten misery of Sunn 0))) and the melancholy of Antimatter.
Stuart Dahlquist explains everything:
“Intention. The thing I’d always felt deep down about Asva recordings  was that sense of… Intention.  Good as they have been they rang hollow, as if the truth of what nature born those tracks was hidden behind a venear of having to ‘be’ a definable thing, genre specific, a way to ‘belong’ somewhere in the midst of other musics. The intention behind Presences Of Absences has been to make something real and unbiased, an honest effort at reproducing what is Asva’s  nature as a band and as individuals. Not heavy in the traditional sense of ‘heavy’ but emotive and powerful, not quirky, not elusive or exclusive, but  a different breed entire. Presences Of Absences is about sincerity, goodwill and compassion, honesty, hard work and in the deepest sense, thanks and reflection at the end of the day. It’s a discussion in music utilizing traditional elements (liturgical, plain chant, tintinnabuli musics, folk and gospel musics, acoustic organ and wind instruments, etc) and contemporary electric instrumentation and playing methods  to expose our shared origins, our pasts, presents and futures and the common thread passing through our relationships to all of it… Presences Of Absences is a big work.
P of A  began as a singularly personal project. I had envisioned creating a solo work and had recorded the basis for these tracks (Reed and electric organs, electric bass and guitar, bells) over the course of perhaps a hundred and fifty early morning sessions in my rehearsal room. As the concept grew  and after a lot of deliberation I realized that involving other creative minds to form a true collaborative we could, together, could push P of A  into a whole new arena with considerable added dimension.  Greg Gilmore, Toby Driver, and Jake Weller are musicians and composers of whom I have long admired and feel possess an intuitive sensitivity towards music and who-like myself- are not afraid of exposing themselves as truly individual voices unencumbered by any need to ‘be’ anything namable. Presences Of Absences  speaks the naked truth about  it’s creators and ultimatelyabout us as people.”



http://www.myspace.com/asvaband

1. A Bomb In That Suitcase
2. Birds
3. Presences Of Absences
4. New World Order Rising