Surface Of The Earth

Since its release in 1996, Surface of the Earth’s self-titled first album has gradually been recognized as an unlikely minimalist masterpiece and an essential work to emerge from New Zealand’s 1990’s Free Noise movement. Embracing elements of drone and ambient music, yet free from tonal / musical conventions, the Wellington trio created an album that defied easy categorization
It has been called “one of the most important albums to ever drag the subterranean vibe of unending drone into the stifling, weirdly beautiful vista of urban decay”, and has drawn parallels with the works of Phill Niblock, William Basinski and Éliane Radigue, as well as Tony Conrad and John Cale. It is a rare album where players, instruments and space coexist and play equal parts – coalescing to create a new, monumental kind of music – one that is both haunting and embracing, dark and transcendent