Behind the artist Ethereal Bonds we find Martin, a 32 year old audio engineer and artist from East Germany. He is a fan of concept albums and produces cinematic experimental electronic music with influences of idm, neoclassical, edm, glitch and post rock.
I am always working on new original sound design techniques that allow me to fuse organic and electronic sounds in my music. Also, I am open for contacts with music and video producers and artists of all kinds, really. I’d love to work multidisciplinary in the future and can see myself producing music for art exhibitions, short films, fashion shows and other artistic events, says Martin.
‘Undone’ will be his debut LP and a couple of singles will be released in advance. Lamour Records is proud of this promising new discovery sharing his first steps on his musical journey with the world.
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Written, recorded, mixed & mastered by Ethereal Bonds
Cat. nr: lamour193dig
Releasedate: December 1st, 2023
For the album closer, I wanted to have a song built mainly around a melody, which, like all my melodic ideas, came from improvisation on the piano. I also wanted the track to flow smoothly from the piano outro of “Long Road, Brittle Light” and have a completely different tempo than the rest of the album, because it is not about living or outer circumstances anymore but about death and every being approaching it constantly.
The melody seems extremely melancholic, marching and fragile and in my opinion it is beautiful despite its simplicity. I digitally enhanced the small organic rhythmic imperfections that occurred while playing it, to make you feel like everything is moving free of any fixed time signatures while listening to the track. Such small human “mistakes” have always appealed to me and, in my opinion, should not be missing in electronic music either, because otherwise it loses the human element.
Most of my tracks tend towards a rather maximalist arrangement, which in part becomes interesting and unfolds its emotional effect mainly due to its abundance of different textures and layers. Therefore, I wanted to have an extremely minimalist piece with a manageable number of tracks, at least at the end, to show that I can create an enormous emotional impact even with just a few elements. In addition, I wanted to create the impression of sinking lifelessly into the water.
So the initial piano loop in the background is joined by atmospheric vocal glitches until the whole arrangement blurs into a lake of reverb and the sounds of children playing get louder. These are replaced by the same boy vocals heard at the end of “Leaving My Shadow Behind,” only this time singing the main theme of the piano loop and glitching much more strongly.
Following this, a single long, droning note grows louder and louder, coming from the same sound source heard as the first sound on the album at the beginning of “Time Pervades Us All,” while church bells are heard until everything dissipates again at the loudest point of the track. This way I wanted to close the circle of the album and link the beginning and the end. There is also a small amount of clipping involved here but I decided to leave it in since this track is about imperfection of human life I thought that some technical imperferctions in there wouldnt hurt the track. Also, the immediate succession of the sound of children playing and the church bells of a requiem mass has a very disturbing effect on me. As if some of the first and last sounds in a human life meet directly. With this I wanted to remind how short a human life is and that the consciousness of death can help one to worry less about small, irrelevant problems, to make the most of every day and enjoy it to the best of one’s ability. Finally, the piano repeats the theme one last time while the tempo becomes extremely slow and the track, and thus the album, comes to its end.
/Ethereal Bonds
REVIEWS
Last Day Deaf
“It’s not very often that an instrumental piece gradually conquers your soul, but the latest musical creation by Ethereal Bonds, titled Death’s Gentle Embrace, accomplishes just that. Martin, a 32-year-old audio engineer and artist from East Germany, is the mastermind behind this almost 7-minute sonic expedition. The composition takes you on a haunting neoclassical journey, creating a spine-chilling ambiance. The excessive and strategically used field recordings and samples heighten the tension, while experimentation keeps the listener engaged and unable to predict what comes next.”
https://lastdaydeaf.com/listening-now-ethereal-bonds-deaths-gentle-embrace/
African Paper
“Auf den Lamour Records erscheint gerade das digitale Albumdebüt des jungen deutschen Projektes Ethereal Bonds unter dem Titel “Undone”. Hinter dem Namen verbirgt sich ein 32jähriger Toningenieur und Künstler, über dessen musikalischen Werdegang wenig bekannt ist, außer dass er ein Freund von Konzeptalben ist und neben IDM, Glitch und anderen elektonischen Musikarten Neoklassik und Postrock zu seinen Inspirationsquellen zählt. “
http://africanpaper.com/2023/12/09/undone-debut-von-ethereal-bonds-auf-lamour/
Anxiousmagazine
https://anxiousmagazine.pl/premiery/ethereal-bonds-undone/
Grauu
“Long Road, Brittle Light; Ethereal Bonds tarafından sakin ve derin setler için üretilmiş Melodic House & Techno türünde bir parçadır. Parça Lamour Records etiketiyle 30.10.2023 tarihinde yayına girmiştir.”
Read full post at: https://grauu.com/ethereal-bonds-long-road-brittle-light
RADIO
Radio Regent – The Moderns – 11.02.2024
Played: Tranquility
radioregent.com
Fango Radio Suoni dalla Pattumiera astrale 05.01.2024
Played: Tranquility
www.fangoradio.com/shows/115
Free FM 102.6 Ulm – Schlecktronik #439 – 01.12.2023, 22.00-00.00
Played: Undone
www.freefm.de
Radio Hannover 87.6 – Grenzwellen, 20.12.2023, 21.00-00.00
Played: Leaving My Shadow Behind
www.radio-hannover.de
CiTR – 101.9FM Vancouver – Bepi Crespan Presents
Played Deaths Gentle Embrace
citr.ca
Radio Hannover 87.6 Grenzwellen, 13.12.2023, 21.00-00.00
Played Undone
www.radio-hannover.de