We’re diving deep, and Cole Blouin is piloting the descent. The New York-based alchemist is back, and his new track, “First Descent” (Glimpse), is not for the faint of heart. This is the kind of track that needs a total sensory surrender; this is a tectonic shift in sound, a plunge into a “power ambient” abyss that’s as punishing as it is beautiful.
Blouin, a shapeshifter who’s already conquered realms of art-rock, prepared guitar, and microtonal classical, has fused all his past lives into one colossal, darkly shimmering beast. “First Descent” is the cathartic opener to his upcoming EP Preludes, and one can hear the careful sound-design from his work on Hraun 2.1, but it’s been supercharged.
This is where ambient music grows teeth. The track builds with a patient, almost terrifying inevitability. It’s the sonic equivalent of watching a glacier calve—massive, slow-moving, and utterly devastating. There are no beats here to cling to, just shifting planes of sound, feedback squeals that feel like guitar abuse of the highest order, and ambient abysses that pull you under. It’s mysterious, it’s patient, and as NYC vocalist Cassandra Croft accurately called it, it’s “punishing.” This is the nocturnal, beat-less side of artists like Tim Hecker or Ben Frost, but blasted through Blouin’s own uniquely corrosive filter.
The man isn’t working alone in the shadows, either. He’s got the heavy-weight talent of Joseph Branciforte on mastering duties—a Grammy-award winning engineer and the head of the revered Greyfade label. That collaboration ensures this immense soundscape is a detailed, horrifically beautiful masterpiece where every texture and rupture is felt in your bones.
“First Descent (Glimpse)” is the first glimpse into a mammoth, decade-spanning project called Afterform, described as a gesamtkunstwerk—a total work of art. If this is just the prelude, then the main event is going to be apocalyptic. Cole Blouin isn’t only making music; he’s building a world. And you’re either getting on board or getting left behind in the palegreying dusk.
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