Live Review: Experience the fleeting sublimity of nature on 44 Ardent's debut 'FADING 22'

Who the hell is 44 ARDENT? Well, let me answer your question with a question - why the hell aren't you listening to their stunning debut 'FADING 22' right now? There's a Soundcloud link below all this stupid text! All you have to do is click that funny triangle and let your ears take you for a ride.

All the details like 44 Ardent being a side-project of an Australian producer who currently wishes to be anonymous, that's the boring stuff. I could tell you that 'ardent' means to be enthusiastic or passionate, or something that is burning or glowing, but what's the use? What's important is that their debut 'FADING 22' is a gorgeous sonic journey through the sounds of nature, with an emphasis on how these sounds are fading away. But I'll let you hear it from the anonymous horse mouth of 44 Ardent themselves: “Remote rainforests in the dead of night. Thunder echoing over a valley as lightning flashes overhead. Waves crashing onto jagged rocks in a storm. These are the things that have inspired ‘FADING 22'”

A short and bright instrumental electronic number, 'FADING 22' lives up to its inspiration in more ways than one. An upbeat analog melody of synth bleeps fall like the first uncertain raindrops of a storm while chopped-and-screwed vocal samples evoke birdsong among the booming bass and synth loops. With a couple of luxuriating vocal breakdowns in the middle of the four-to-the-floor action, 'FADING 22' covers a lot of ground in just over two-and-a-half minutes, feeling like a fleeting burst of sublimity before the clouds part and the world continues on.

There's always something so enticing about anonymous projects, and environmental bent of 44 Ardent's adds a neat level of uniqueness to it as well. Time will tell who 44 Ardent is or what they have in store for us, but the fact remains; 'FADING 22' is one hell of a debut.

Image: SUPPLIED

Words by MAX LEWIS

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