Shortwave Spectrum by SONOLOGYST

released November 23, 2023

REVIEWS

Dungeon Synth & Dark Ambient Reviews
Top 10 Dark Ambient Albums Of 2023
thedungeonindeepspace.com/2023/12/30/top-10-favorite-dark-ambient-albums-of-2023/

Sonologyst excels at releasing masterful Dark Ambient albums that build upon isolationism through elongated drones and minimalist haunts. On the projects latest effort, ‘Shortwave Spectrum’, the intonations go above and beyond than ever before. Featuring over ninety minutes of ghastly sequences that are reminiscent of sounds that may be heard at an abandoned communication station, these tracks provide the full experience of abandonment and psychotic terror. Although not as ominous as other releases in my collection of Top 10 releases, there is an everlasting presence of dread that has an equivalent effect. If nominal Dark Ambience is your thing, then the works of Sonologyst will be right up your alley and ‘Shortwave Spectrum’ would be the perfect starting point for diving into this eerie style.

Nine Circles
ninecircles.co/2023/12/03/rainbows-in-the-dark-sonologyst-shortwave-spectrum

Vital Weekly (excerpt review)

Raffaele Pezzella's musical project Sonologyst doesn't need much introduction. I reviewed several of his works and liked it a lot. You can find an indication of the source material in the title, shortwave sounds, and, in particular, from what is called number stations. This takes us back to the days of the Cold War when secret services worldwide used radio transmissions to communicate with agents in the field—voices reading groups of numbers, Morse codes or otherwise random bleeps and hard to intercept and block. The Cold War may have ended, but the information notes that in recent years, Chinese, Korean and Indian Numbers Stations have been picked up, and I assume these are at the core of the music here and not the 4CD set released by Irdial in the 1990s. It would make a damn good book to describe the use of radio (waves) as a musical instrument and the history thereof, as I believe that, next to the mouth, the radio is one of easiest accessible instruments available for any would-be musicians (if you already wrote such a book, then let me know). That is not to say that it's easy to play great music based on radio waves, but Sonologyst is a true master in crafting deep, dark, and highly ambient music with that ghostly atmosphere lingering in the background. As much as Number Stations are mysterious, so is this music. Oddly enough, maybe, there are six tracks on the first CD, somewhere between five and fifteen minutes, and the oddity is that these are more minimal than the forty-two-minute piece on the second CD. Each of these six stays in stasis and move within the given parameters. The long one, 'Shortwaves', is a piece that moves between many stations, picking up spoken word, classical music, pop music and whatever else along the way, against a backdrop of drones. It shows that one can do many things with radio waves, which is why I'm still fascinated by it. (FdW)

Avant Music News
avantmusicnews.com/2023/11/18/amn-reviews-sonologyst-shortwave-spectrum-2023-cold-spring-records

Luminous Dash
luminousdash.be/reviews/sonologyst-shortwave-spectrum-cold-spring/

This Is Darkness
Well, this is very cool – an album of dark ambient / deep drone, inspired by and using edited shortwave radio broadcasts from the mysterious ‘number stations’ that during the cold war (and beyond) transmitted coded messages for agents deep undercover in enemy nations. The resulting album is a collection of haunting and otherworldly tracks unlike anything I’ve heard in a long time. As a bonus, Sonologyst has included a 7th track that is less filtered – it contrasts beautifully with the six expertly crafted tracks that came before it, and provides an even deeper experience of these ghostly broadcasts. Highly recommended!

Ver Sacrum
www.versacrum.com/vs/2023/12/sonologyst-shortwave-spectrum.html

Lux Athena
luxatenea.com/2023/12/17/sonologyst-shortwave-spectrum-cold-spring-records-noviembre-2023-resena-review

Dark Room Magazine
www.darkroom-magazine.it/ita/108/Recensione.php?r=5066

Musique Machine
www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=10247&fbclid=IwAR23eV81agMQeIKEcZ7k2GeV4t4sEA9MLMf7pHeooFoy_MpXpwuhSEbG6-E

NoMelody Magazine
nomelodymagazine.org/2024/03/25/sonologyst-shortwave-spectrum/

Concrete Web
www.concreteweb.be/reviews/sonologyst-3

Rauta
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuSudDQoXa4



Published by Cold Spring Records
Sound, sampling, processing and mastering by Sonologyst.
Equipment: analogue synthesizers, shortwaves radio receiver, analogue tape recorders.
Mastered by Sonologyst.
Graphic design by Abby Helasdottir.