VIDNA OBMANA: Crossing The Trail

Release year: 1998/2023
Label: Projekt/Zoharum

Polish Zoharum are at it again, digging into the annals of the past and reissuing somewhat obscure older material. This time around it’s Belgian ambient in the form of Vidna Obmana, a project of one Dirk Serries active from the mid 80’s to 2007, and the project’s 1998 album Crossing The Trail.

Now, as I wrote in my review of The Stargazer’s Assistant’s Fire Worshipper (see here), ambient is a genre I’m very picky with. And if I had some trouble getting into that release, I’ll warn you right from the top: Crossing The Trail is even less my cup of tea.

In many ways, Crossing The Trail is extremely understated. Slowly evolving, sweeping layers of synthesizers make up the majority of the music. Like waves, they wash ashore and retreat again, coming and going like the ebb and tide. The layers are entirely abstract, offering no melodies or other elements to fixate one’s attention on.

And then there are percussions. Looped, tribal percussive elements are in a prominent, central role on many tracks, and they grind on my nerves no end. Take for example Trail Dwelling, where a monotonous tribal percussive pattern rises to become the centerpiece of the entire track. And it just goes on exactly the same for what feels like forever and a day. Argh.

Maybe some people will like the monotony of it all. Not me.

As is usually the case with ambient, the abstract nature of the music makes for some very abstract thematics. The name of the album and many of the track titles seemingly reference journeying or travel. Crossing The Trail, Encountering Terrain, The Giant Traveler, Trail Dwelling and so on: some sort of journey is a common theme. But how does it make itself heard and felt in very languid, serene, peaceful ambient? I don’t know. Personally, I don’t get a sense of journey out of this to any notable extent. On the other hand, there are background layers and elements here, which do echo foreign places and alien vistas; perhaps that is the sense of travel intended.

At any rate, Crossing The Trail is not an album I particularly enjoy listening to. But I wholly recognize that is largely because ambient and me don’t really gel. Fans of this kind of peaceful, tranquil abstraction will most likely shake their head at my dismissal of the album. And that’s okay. We can’t all like the same kind of stuff. And on that note, I’ll conclude by saying that the trails presented on this albums are ones I’m not too keen on crossing.

Visit Vidna Obmana on Bandcamp, or visit Dirk Serries’ website