Ashes by LAMBWOOL
A Dark Ambient Descent Into Collective Fear and Trauma
When war erupted in Ukraine, French sound sculptor Lambwool found himself overtaken by an overwhelming surge of fear and anxiety. The escalating threat of nuclear disaster, the looming specter of global conflict, and the harrowing imagery of destruction awakened in him a long-buried childhood trauma: the paralyzing terror of an impending apocalypse.
For ten days following the outbreak of war, Lambwool was engulfed in a state of absolute panic. Searching for a way to purge these suffocating emotions, he turned instinctively to sound. What began as a means of survival evolved into a profound work of catharsis: a sonic exorcism of dread, helplessness, and darkness.
The result is Lambwool’s most uncompromisingly Dark Ambient album to date, an unflinching meditation on fear, despair, and the crushing weight of history in motion. Every texture, drone, and resonance draws directly from that psychic landscape of anxiety, immersing the listener in a haunting soundworld that reflects both personal and collective trauma.
Integral to the album’s construction are authentic field recordings taken from news reports and journalistic coverage of the conflict in Ukraine. These are not abstracted samples, but raw sonic fragments, captured on the ground amidst devastation, that bring an immediacy and documentary presence to the work. Bombarded buildings, human voices, the echoes of conflict: these elements blur the line between sound art and testimony, making the album both a deeply personal expression and an unsettling historical document.
The artwork, an original painting by Laurent Chedmail, mirrors the sonic and emotional core of the album, envisioned in stark black and white tones and desaturated greys, anchoring the album visually in the same reality from which the sounds emerged. This cohesion between concept, sound, and imagery completes Lambwool’s immersive statement.
With a career spanning atmospheric soundscapes and ethereal experimentation, Lambwool has always sought to explore the liminal space between beauty and darkness. This latest work pushes further into uncharted depths, stripping away light to confront the terror of our times head-on. It is not merely an album, but a document of psychic survival, an artistic gesture born from fear and transformed into sound.
Edition of 300 copies in 4 panel Digipak. 7 Tracks. Running Time 39:18
Tracklist
| 1. | Invaders | 7:05 |
| 2. | Call Of Terror | 4:27 |
| 3. | Locked Under The Ground | 5:40 |
| 4. | Downpour Of Fire | 6:12 |
| 5. | Exodus | 5:19 |
| 6. | Desolation | 5:27 |
| 7. | Burning Stones | 5:04 |
