THE UTUMIS SHRINE

SiJ is a Progressive Electronic project from Vladislav Sikach founded in Ukraine in 2011. The whole idea of the project is to experiment with dark ambience and industrial elements, somewhat in the same style as some of the Bass Communion albums. The project also utilizes field recordings. The project started releasing albums in 2011, and has since released 16 full length albums, the last of which is called "The Utumis Shrine", released in August of 2019. This album has only two very long tracks with a total run time of over 84 minutes. Sikach plays all of the instruments, but does have help with the vocal effects.

"Earth Meditation" (35:27) is the first track which was first written in 2013. It continues with the dark ambience that the project is known for. Various sounds are melted together into a drone that varies mostly in dynamic than it does in pitch, though there are various pitches formed by different layers that emerge from the drone. Soft, percussive noises also help mark the slow passage of time as the drone widens, encompassing more layers and tones. Swells of sound grow and fade around the drone, but nothing really sticks out much in order to not distract too much from the main layers of sound. Changes in sound and dynamic are very slow and gradual. As you near the last 5 minutes, the drone tends to fade in the distance and the tones get more metallic sounding and higher pitched.

"Deep Valley Under the Hills" (48:38) was originally written in 2015. This track features voice and percussion from Anna Sikach, who has worked with Vladislav on SiJ projects before. It starts with a soft, yet somewhat dissonant drone that divides itself away for short intervals creating a micro-tonal harmony as soft sounds like dripping water and spacial echoes linger. The drone slowly intensifies and percussive noises flutter around almost menacingly. The drone pretty much disappears after awhile, and the percussive sounds continue driving things forward, and then dark and airy, yet metallic noises ebb and flow, giving a very eerie ambience to everything. As it goes on, it all becomes more minimal and the sounds and drones just stay right on the edge of hearing. Around 20 minutes, the drone takes on a darker sound. Tone changes are almost indiscernible, and everything stays quite minimal and deep until the end.

This recording takes a lot of patience to listen to, and the minutes go slowly by as changes come and go at an almost unnoticeable rate. There isn't much change throughout the tracks, especially in the last 30 minutes of the 2nd track. It can be hard to listen to for the entire duration, unless you are using it as a meditative or sleep aid, or just something that gives you a soft level of noise with occasional short outbursts. It's long, and a lot of time goes by with nothing but ambience. Only real fans of ambient, drone music will appreciate the album, it is definitely not one for the general public to enjoy.