spaceseer – Hericium (2023)

Photo credit: レコードとプレーヤーのイメージイラスト（記録媒体) by kintomo https://stock.adobe.com/au/ standard licence

Link to album: https://spaceseer.bandcamp.com/album/hericium

Genre: electronic, ambient, doom synth, drone, soundscape, space

Sample track:

When I received an email that spaceseer had recently released new material my ears perked up. As often is the case with spaceseer records, there is a story accompanying the compositions. In this instance the LP is described as capturing the sounds of a fungus kingdom called Hericium. I found the notion of imagining what an interconnected fungus realm might sound like to be a delightful idea as I had only very recently been listening to field recordings of the electric signals given off by mushrooms.

With a psychedelic edge and a doom heavy presence, these tracks are thick with a dense and static-filled atmosphere that feels enormous, confining, extraterrestrial and vaguely threatening. In my mind’s eye, I could picture researchers in bulky, protective gear, headlights dimly illuminating the gloom around them, walking cautiously amongst massive growths of fungus, carefully holding out audio capturing equipment as they take their field recordings, the same recordings of which we are now listening to. This is the reason why I really like spaceseer’s sonic creations. They are almost always embedded in a story and within that framework your mind is free to roam, to embellish and create your own tales and imagery derived from the provided soundscape. It is a deeply nourishing experience for those of us who have overactive imaginations and a penchant for space and science fiction narratives.

Weighing in at the hefty twenty minute mark per track, Hericium is the first spaceseer LP I’ve listened to. In the past, I’ve idly wondered whether the electronic imaginings of this band might wear thin in a long play format but I found myself rather engaged for the entire forty minute plus runtime of this record. The suffocating and engulfing soundscape created by the album might not be something I will return to but I thought spaceseer executed their ideas well on this record. The sounds captured by the opening track, “Hericium Abietis” create the impression of a forceful representation of a natural world. It seems to be tremendous, powerful and distinctly not human. There is an ominous, ponderous and swollen presence throughout this album that feels disquieting and uncomfortable. The overall soundscape is elegant, monumental, alienating and unsettling.

“Hericium Erinaceus”, the second and final track on the album has a harsher, slightly less organic sound with a move towards more conventional drone and electronic elements. It rumbles, trills and swells with force and might, hinting at a crushing strength embedded within. I thought that perhaps track one with its more organic texture sounded like the growth and multiplication of the fungus and track two was possibly the audio representation of a fungus kingdom communicating with each other within their shared consciousness? Track two seemed to have a different tonal aspect to track one but nonetheless still felt connected to the soundscape established by the opening track.

What makes this record interesting for me is that it offers something more akin to a sonic experience than a musical one. It feels like an audio art installation piece that reaches into your mind and plucks at your feelings and sensations rather than superficially engaging only just your ear. The album is almost visceral in its portrayal of an organic lifeform. I would argue that the two tracks that make up Hericium are cohesive in their expression of a shared concept, particularly if you’ve read the liner notes and have been made aware of the story that encompasses the compositions. Even if you haven’t, I think that the tonal and spatial impressions of tracks one and two are spacey and alien sounding enough to give a general understanding of what spaceseer may be trying to represent with this record. This is why I think this album works. It’s creepy, encompassing and vibrant enough to tease out vivid imagery from the minds of those listening. In other words, it does what good concept driven, atmospheric music sets out to accomplish: establish and feed an auditory landscape with enough conviction so that your ears can create a world for your mind to imagine and experience.