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alm 84
strom noir
"famadihana"
21 january 2012

written and recorded by emil mat'ko in spring 2010
thanks to jean-marc, my family and friends
photography : delphine ancelle-b.

STROM NOIR is the project of emil mat'ko who lives in bratislavia, slovakia. since 2007 he has released several records on various labels like hibernate, rural colours, u-cover or resting bell.
the tracks for "famadihana" were recorded after finishing the "dni stratili svoju farbu" cd (hibernate, march 2011) with aim to create quite minimal guitar drones.
"famadihana" refers to a funeray tradition of the malagasy people in madagascar known as "the turning of the bones", people bring forth the bodies of their ancestors from the family crypts and rewrap them in fresh cloth, then dance with the corpses around the tomb to live music.

tracklisting :
1. ... leaving
2. famadihana
3. world of a thousand colours

reviews :

Vital Weekly 837
A new trio of releases on Taalem, a label specialized in 3" CDRs of drone music and all things otherwise atmospheric. Strom Noir from Bratislava (Slovakia) have been around since 2007 and his the brain child of Emil Mat'ko. There have been a bunch of releases on the usual labels for this kind of music (Hibernate, Rural Colours, U-Cover, Resting Bell) and here we have three new pieces recorded in spring 2010, using more and more guitars, electronics and field recordings, especially in 'World Of  A Thousand Colours', with its many bird calls and which has a light tone to it. The title piece and '… Leaving' are somewhat more darker in approach. Although not the most innovative approach in this musical field, quite a fine release. [...] (FdW)

Culture Is Not Your Friend!
I think that the most notable and even remarkable aspect of this album, created by Strom Noir and presented by Taâlem, is the brittleness of it, and the soft delicate sounds it produces. The three tracks, all icy and sharply penetrating the ears of their audience, are doing so with beauty and slow elegance, until the point where the listeners might suddenly realize they are listening not only to the gentle sea of colours that are being promised through the album, but also to a vibrant, radiant and painful, even if for a little while.
To me, as Strom Noir is sending forth these harmonic, heavenly sounds through the cold air, it is hard to interact with them on a personal level, and all that is left for me is to appreciate their distant, miraculous presence like that of angels on Byzantine paintings. This world of sounds present itself like a magical phenomena, like an aurora borealis, only to leave the listener in awe from afar, witnessing these cradling, compassionate and cavernous sounds.
And it is a beautiful vision.