錦瑟(Brocade Zither)

Hailing from the mist shrouded lands of China comes an artist who presents us with his own personal take on traditional Chinese music. Their name roughly translates to ‘Brocade Zither’, a zither being a traditional string instrument commonly found across many different Eastern cultures, with the Chinese zither being the guqin, which you’ll be hearing all through out their music. This is an interesting delve as the artist behind the project incorporates a lot of dungeon synth, which might seem like a strange combination but works out really uniquely in the end and I think creates a sound that separates itself from the rest of the ambient dungeon synth world with its deep European roots.

Starting with their first release titled in English, Cold Mountain, is as the artists quotes, a bold attempt at so-called ‘national-style’ music. This bold attempt at fusing an ancient and well established sound with these modern synth ideals have created something I think even the great classical artists of old could appreciate. This is an extremely skilled fusion of the two, a clear comprehension of traditional Chinese sound is certainly heard, and with the subtle inclusions of synths which add a layer of depth and atmosphere to the music that helps push that atmosphere along. The idea of Taoist philosophy is on strong display here. Of course, themes of nature is heavy all through out, with the instrumentation giving you different feelings of seasons, and landscapes, from hiking through cold and harsh mountain tops like on the fifth and sixth track to even a beautiful spring landscape like on the second and third tracks. The fourth track, titled Late Autumn in English, captures just that. Alongside that, that simplistic balance of both traditional and modern is a beautiful and unique approach to that idea of Taoism. Balance in everything, even in the music at hand. All in all, this album blew me away with its beauty, simplicity and sense of wonder that is not found in almost any contemporary dungeon synth projects that I’m aware of.

Taking a step away from Chinese tradition and back into classic 90s dungeon synth style, Cold Mountain II took ideas from the first album and distilled it down to a pure synthetic idea. While one can say Cold Mountain I is more lighthearted and even jovial at times, part two on the other hand, certainly has a more somber and darker feel to it, which even reflects the two album covers. Both depicting similar mountain ranges, while part one is in full vibrant color, and part two being purely black and white, which goes back to that old 90s black metal dungeon synth style. Now, for the music at hand, think of Mortiis, synth era of Burzum, Cernunnos, Depressive Silence, and the many others who helped carve out this sound. Brocade took a page right out of their book and made their own unique spin on it, incorporating of course Chinese melodies there, some that were also present on the first album as well. Certainly more simplistic and stripped back, but I’d say just as epic. I’d highly recommend listening to both I and II together as they form a perfect union, much like the iconic and well known Taoist symbol of the Yin and Yang.

This is where I think this artist shines the most. Their third release Fighting Crickets in English, takes those same fusion styles of Cold Mountain I and enhances it ten-fold. The idea behind this album, is being able to transport the listener to an iconic era for China, the Xuande period. When most westerners think of medieval China, they usually end up imagining this era of the Ming dynasty. This album is incredibly well produced just like its predecessors and holds an atmosphere unique to itself. At times celebratory and at times a bit more contemplative and meditative. There’s plenty of unique melodies that both cross the line of traditional and classical to a modern fantasy style that is incredibly infectious to listen to. All of this album could easily be heard as a soundtrack to some sort of movie depicting that era as the emotions it evokes is incredibly strong and you could easily see a story be told right alongside it. I totally think this is a must listen to any fan of folk music, world music, or even dungeon synth and you want something new.

If you haven’t noticed yet, there’s certainly a pattern with Brocade and their releases. One being traditional folk music, while the other being purely dungeon synth. This one, if the title wasn’t obvious, is an ode to those old dungeon synth legends that I mentioned earlier. There’s no Chinese history or philosophy here, just pure unadulterated dungeon synth that I think stands toe to toe with modern contemporaries like Fief, Questmaster, and Dungeontroll. I won’t lie, at first I was put off by this album, especially after coming off of Fighting Crickets. Both being released within weeks of one another, I was a little shocked at the approach by this, expecting more of that old Chinese sound. On the other hand, though, I was pleasantly surprised with how well put together and thought out this release was. It has all of the qualities I love about dungeon synth. Simplicity, atmosphere, aesthetic, and of course, that crunchy somewhere in between 16 and 32 bit sound that brings me back personally to my childhood, staying up late playing old fantasy RPGs with only the glow of the TV screen lighting my face. This album feels like a soundtrack to one of those games that I have since forgotten. Along the lines of Dragon Quest, Chronotrigger, even a little bit of Icewind Dale. To a true fan of dungeon synth, they’ll love this and easily add this album to their 16-bit collection of wondrous and fantastical sounds.