Release data:

Caul – Let the Stars Assume the Whole of Night
CD, Hypnos Recordings, 2012

Kansas City-based composer Caul, aka Brett Smith, is a purveyor of dark, cinematic ambient music. Some may know him from the 2004 collaborative effort “Inside the Hollow Realm” with Numina.

“Let the Stars Assume the Whole of Night” contains 12 structured and composed ambient pieces, featuring a mix of haunting soundscapes, vocal pads, drums and guitar licks. Together, they lay down a psychedelic and abyssal feel, but without being or becoming too spooky.

From the smooth, gentle pads and slow evolving string sections comes a kind of religious but also somber air. It spreads its wings as the remote, darkening landscape opens up, revealing another side in front of the listener on every track.

Although there’s an “edge” to this type of spiritual-oriented and at times even pastoral ambient, the 51-minute moody outcome has a cool, pleasant and satisfying impact. This despite the gloomy and gothic veil lying over “Let the Stars Assume the Whole of Night”.