Cold Summer

They Say...

Review by Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Harris already had two Lull efforts under his belt by the time Cold Summer surfaced, but this packed-to-the-brim disc was easily the pinnacle of his efforts up to that point, four lengthy songs that more than anything else justified the "isolationism" tag that surfaced at the time to describe chilled, cool ambient. Comparison points to the work of Thomas Köner and Main in particular work here, and in some respect Lull finds a particular balance between both, combining the sense of hushed alien landscapes from the former with the obsessive focus on rhythm from the latter. It's easy enough to hear the connection to Scorn as well, with the chief difference being the lack of any drums or conventional rhythm loops, but with the focus strictly and solely on the slowly evolving textures and looped tones instead of beats, Lull achieves its own identity instead of simply being a Scorn remix, say. As much as the album title, the song names capture the atmospheres at play -- "Slow Fall Inward," "Lonely Shelter," "Long Way Home," "Lost Sanctum." The songs don't start and stop so much as solely waft in and drift away, steady and slow progressions that float like ghosts. It's the weird, nagging rhythms almost buried in the flow of drones and muffled, stretched-out chimes and rings, the rising and falling of tones rather than drum hits, which provide the core to the tracks, making the experience more than just background music. Listening almost forces a hush on potential listeners, shot through as the album is with just enough potential threat. It's one heck of a long way from the hyperspeed blur of the earliest Napalm Death records, to be sure, but Cold Summer demonstrates clearly how Harris is very much the master of extremes.