Release year: 1990/2024
Label: ZNS Tapes/Zoharum

The promo sheet for Polish Zoharum’s recent re-release of German Maeror Tri’s 1990 tape Ambient Dreams mentions that it was created entirely from sounds sourced from natural sources. No electronic sound sources were apparently used.

This raises an interesting topic for discussion: how much does it matter how an album was made? Especially in the field of rather minimalistic, abstract electronics, does only the end result matter, or does also the process of creation weigh?

My first, immediate thought is that it’s the end result that matters. Maybe how the album was made is of some passing, trivial and even incidental interest, but above all, it’s how the album turns out.

In the case of Ambient Dreams, it’s a very understated and even minimalistic album of rather quiet, industrial dronings and slowly evolving, shifting layers of heavily reverbed, echoing ambience. There is lots of rumbling low end, deeply rumbling drones and endlessly reverberating metallic tones. The name itself of course anchors the album to ambient music, but there are ample moments when Ambient Dreams crosses over into the realm of droning industrial dark ambient. In the dark timbre of its soundscapes, there is every now and then something ever so slightly unsettling to balance moments of serenity.

Which leads me to reconsider my earlier opinion. So this was all created from natural sound sources? From stuff out and about, collected and manipulated? One has to feel some amount of respect for the process, because this certainly sounds like synthesizers and other more conventional instruments could have been used.

To have been made as it was made, Ambient Dreams is quite composed and, in a sense, directed. Yes, since this is ambient music – of some form – it’s all very abstract, vague and amorphous, but not in the sense that it’s just a ragtag collection of sounds glued together. From these found sounds, the German trio have created an intriguing piece of – well, I guess dreaming is the right word. Sometimes unnerving, sometimes soothing, but there is a certain dreamy otherworldliness to this.

So what’s the end result? The process matters, or doesn’t matter? Honestly, make up your own damn mind. I guess I still lean more towards the former opinion, but won’t and can’t entirely dismiss the latter. So yeah, I guess the process does matter. But can’t polish a gem from a turd.

Luckily, Ambient Dreams isn’t a turd. It is an interesting piece for fans of understated, experimental electronic music. I wouldn’t call it outstanding, and in truth there are times when this 62 minute album gets on my nerves, but fans and friends of darkish ambient and drone will still probably find this worth at least one spin.

Maeror Tri doesn’t seem to have an online presence