See Land is the side project of Doug Kaplan, electric guitarist for college/post/math/prog/heck, pretty much anything-rock outfit The Earth Is A Man. Where The Earth Is A Man demand repeat listens to fathom out the intertwining layers of their fascinating grooves, See Land’s self-titled debut needs to be heard over and over for just the opposite reason: it’s sparseness. These are delicate, ambient tracks, in the same vein as Brian Eno’s early works and taking cues from minimalist composers like Steve Reich.
“Language Of The Unheard #1″ opens the album sounding not unlike a simple digital music box, before some loose, scratching percussion fades it’s way in and quietly back out again. The reverberating guitar plucks that underpin this track recur throughout the album, supported by a lush bass wall on “Language Of The Unheard #2″, almost entirely swamped on “Language Of The Unheard #3″, and back to the fragile foreground on “Language Of The Unheard #4″, the album closer.
“See Land”, though, is not just a series of variations on a theme: those four tracks are interspersed with others that, while equally bare, are diverse in sound. On “Ambient”, a naggingly familiar chord sequence suggests that Kaplan may owe something of a debt to Radiohead’s “Idioteque“. Far from the unbridled panic of that track, however, “Ambient” is a slow, stripped down number that parts ways with its inspiration and turns into a near hypnotising drone as different elements of the mix fall slowly out of sync with each other.
“Everything And Everything” and the perversely named “Intro” mark something of a contrast, with the rough guitars of the first track putting it closer to a My Bloody Valentine soundscape than the minimal, soothing tones of the rest of the album – not a bad thing in itself, but undeniably jarring in context. Still, this is a fine ambient album, richly rewarding if you pay attention to it and, unlike the output of The Earth Is A Man, perfectly functional background music too. Stream the whole album below or head on over to See Land’s bandcamp page for a name your price download.
