Antonymes

Antonymes“sound sketches of enormous, if fragile, beauty” The Silent Ballet

The music of Antonymes emerges from the adjustments and erasures of ambient and the pace and persistence of minimalism; from the serenity and austerity of Morton Feldman and the profound prettiness of Harold Budd; from the relationship between continuity and repetition; from secrecy, quietness and pause; from thought, from emptiness; from where it is set and where it is setting off to. At the same time definite and a ghostly impression, Antonymes floats free of fixed points while anxiously staying in sight of genres, movements, scenes, connections, contexts and innovations that have piled up and broken down around it.
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Discography

 

Delicate Power (In The Hand Of Others)


31 May 2016

Delicate Power (In The Hands of Others) is the new EP by acclaimed neo-classical ambient artist Antonymes featuring the single ‘Delicate Power’.

‘Delicate Power’ is the second single to be taken from Antonymes’ sublime new album (For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly. The track showcases Antonymes deft musical skills with its restrained rhythms infusing the melodies with a gravitas that is at once warmly human and gravely austere. The single is accompanied by a gorgeous music video filmed by the incredible people at Chasing Light and shot on location at a beautiful, hidden otherworld in mid Wales.

The hypnotic rhythmic underpinning of ‘Delicate Power’ has invited five magical re-workings on this EP, each with its own subtle majesty. Marconi Union tease the original into a beautifully orchestrated anti-gravity ballad. Markus Mehr’s inimitable skills for re-invention have helped him to create a brooding version that draws heavily on the original’s rhythmic details. Lvmark’s reinterpretation foregrounds the melodic elements of the original, wedded to gently pulsing electronica. Alongside these three guest remixes, there are two reworkings from Antonymes himself: ‘Delicate Power’ (Waltz For Mary Anne)’ transforms the original into a beautiful, late-night swing, and ‘Delicate Power (Jung’s Drug Drum Waltz)’ lives up to the promise of its title with more heft to its woody rhythms.

 

(For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly


21 April 2016

While Ian M. Hazeldine’s discography as Antonymes has always been as far-reaching as it is immediately affecting, there’s a recognisable progression on (For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly. These 10 pieces have an emotional potency and compositional dexterity that surpasses the body of work that precedes them, drawing you into their evocative world and demanding engagement. Antonymes’ deft minimalism is at play, transcending a superficially melancholy aesthetic to create something truly life-affirming. Its restraint brings to mind the famous quotation from Mark Hollis of seminal band Talk Talk: “Before you play two notes learn how to play one note – and don’t play one note unless you’ve got a reason to play it.” Including contributions from Christoph Berg (Field Rotation), composer Stefano Guzzetti, James Banbury (The Auteurs), Joanna Swan (Ilya) and writer Paul Morley, the album’s depth of sound is awe-inspiring.

The sonically minimal yet emotionally formidable ‘Towards Tragedy and Dissolution’ features the stirring string arrangements of James Banbury (Bloc Party, Editors and U2), which engage in reflective conversation with Hazeldine’s plaintive piano. Second single ‘Delicate Power’ gently flowers from its hushed origins into a stately piece akin to early Deaf Center. On ‘Elegy (ii)’, the piano gives way to incisive strings and the elegantly dexterous vocals of Joanna Swan (Ilya). ‘Little Emblems of Eternity’ sets the words of British writer Paul Morley, hauntingly intoned by Jan van den Broeke, against an atmospheric backdrop of echoing piano figures. And the title track swells into a magisterial call to arms, ending the album on a suitably triumphant note.

The album was mixed by Stefano Guzzetti and Paul Humphreys (OMD), with mastering by Rafael Anton Irisarri (The Sight Below).

 

There Can Be No True Beauty Without Decay


October 2013

In late 2009 Antonymes released Beauty Becomes the Enemy of the Future on Cathedral Transmissions of which the CD is now unavailable. Since then he has revisited the album, which has culminated a new release, There Can Be No True Beauty Without Decay. Hazeldine’s own reworkings are intertwined with those of friends Ian Hawgood, Isnaj Dui, Offthesky, Field Rotation, Wil Bolton, Spheruleus and James Banbury to create an album of captivating melancholy and beauty. The guest reworkings venture into other, darker territories, where one might be harder pressed to identify the original material.  (Please note only the [i] tracks are available for licensing).

 

Light Dispersed


February 2012

Originally released by Hibernate Recordings as a limited edition postcard CD. Recorded at The Lightbox, Hawarden, September 2010.
Antonymes: Guitar, piano, shells, tambourine, prepared piano, organ, frequencies.

 

We Don’t Look Back For Very Long (with Slow Dancing Society)


October 2011

We Don’t Look Back For Very Long sees Antonymes reworking a track from each of fellow Hidden Shoal artist Slow Dancing Society’s four albums, casting radiant new light on the stunning originals. Across almost 30 minutes, Antonymes marries SDS’s glistening atmospheres to his own trademark ambient neo-classical minimalism, creating a completely mesmerising hybrid.

 

Like Rumours Of Hushed Thunder


May 2011

Recorded between Christmas day and new year’s eve 2011 using:

Steingraeber 130 upright piano.
Audio Technica AT4033 microphone.
Lexicon reverb.
Cheap violin.
Voice.

This album has been mastered to retain dynamics, not to enhance loudness. 
To appreciate these pieces fully, please adjust your volume accordingly or use headphones.

 

Lost In Waves of Light


May 2011

Created from elements lifted off Antonyme’s critically acclaimed album The Licence To Interpret Dreams, ‘Lost In Waves Of Light’ is a deftly crafted sonic and melodic patchwork. The track sits as a wonderful companion piece to the album, as recognised melodies unfurl, cloaked in new guises. As a work unto itself it once again places Antonymes at the height of his game, producing some of the most emotionally and sonically engaging work being released today. Antonymes new album The Licence To Interpret Dreams has been met with universal acclaim since its release in April. It is an album of resonant beauty, as expansive as the wilds of North Wales from which it came, yet as delicate and intimate as a loved one’s breath upon your skin. Each song deploys a modest array of instruments and textures, giving them ample space to breathe and glow.

 

The Licence To Interpret Dreams


April 2011

The Licence To Interpret Dreams is the Hidden Shoal debut release by neo-classical/minimal ambient artist Antonymes. It is an album of resonant beauty, as expansive as the wilds of North Wales from which it came, yet as delicate and intimate as a loved one’s breath upon your skin. Each song deploys a modest array of instruments and textures, giving them ample space to breathe and glow. The album’s scope is immediately apparent on breathtaking opener ‘The Slow Beginnings of a ‘A Fragile Acceptance’, where faint piano notes are overwhelmed by an aching surge of cellos, and the timeless, lingering chord progression of ‘The Siren, Hopelessly Lost’. Single ‘Endlessly’ weaves traces of nature with unearthly, oscillating tones before giving way to a strident piano theme. On ‘Doubt’, Jan Van Den Broek delivers the words of Paul Morley, cradled against a bed of melancholic piano, violin and cello, leaving an indelible emotional mark. ‘A Light From The Heavens’ almost feels like a natural conclusion to the album, with its sense of reflective yearning, but it is followed by the devastating metaphysical breakdown of ‘On Arrival at the Strange Museum’, a cavernous piece that calls out like some giant magnetic spirit.

 

31: Before The Light Fails


March 2010

31: Before The Light Fails Pt.1 is a personal photographic diary for May 2010, a reminder of day to day activities throughout a fairly ordinary and typical month in Antonymes’ life. Includes two high quality 35 page PDF booklets, part 1 with 31 black and white photographs. Part 2 with 31 colour photographs, a 4.0 surround sound file of both parts mixed together and Quicktime video.

 

Beauty Becomes The Enemy Of The Future


December 2009

First released on Cathedral Transmission, Beauty Becomes The Enemy Of The Future  is the debut full length from Antonymes. Featuring seven enigmatic, sparsely arranged piano odes, subtly accompanied by hints of electronics and strings. A stunning piece of work.

Biography

Antonymes is designer, photographer, conceptualist and musician Ian M. Hazeldine, making music from the wilds of North Wales, a very strange, fantastic, ultimately unreal place of mountains, streams, woods, villages and obscure wilderness. To quote North Welsh poet R. S. Thomas, “to live in Wales is to be conscious at dusk of the spilled blood that went into the making of the wild sky, dyeing the wild rivers in all their courses.” His music begins at the piano, where notes, space and intention combine over time, until a shape appears. This shape is taken into the computer, where it is twisted, gently, and given more detail, until it is fully formed. Composition takes form through patience, probing, occasional accidents, spontaneity and a form of focused daydreaming.

Debut mini-album Beauty Becomes The Enemy of the Future was released initially on David Newlyn’s Cathedral Transmissions label in December 2009, and as a self-published book in spring 2010. A second 2010 release, 31: Before The Light Fails, was released as a digital download and as a special box, an edition of one, containing music and photography, representing Antonymes’ fear and suspicion of the herd mentality. The piece consisted of two tracks to be played simultaneously in separate rooms. Various pieces by Antonymes have appeared on compilations produced by labels Soundcolours, Dezordr, Cathedral Transmissions and Audio Gourmet. The album The Licence To Interpet Dreams was released by Hidden Shoal to widespread critical acclaim in early 2011.

News

  • Hidden Shoal in Textura’s Ten Favourite Labels of 2018 List!

    Hidden ShoalHidden Shoal is incredibly honoured to have been selected as one of Textura’s Ten Favourite Labels of 2018. Textura is, in our opinion, the premiere new music magazine and favourite of the label team for unearthing and exposing new and exciting new music. This is the second time Hidden Shoal has been selected in Textura’s best labels list and as always we are nestled against some other very special labels, all of who you should check out.

    Now for a very brief and unnecessary acceptance speech – we are nothing without our incredible roster of artists, who continually amaze, inspire and surprise us. Thank you all!

     

     

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  • Eat Your Friends: A Hidden Shoal 10th Anniversary Compilation

    Eat Your FriendsHidden Shoal is excited to end the celebration of its 10th year of existence with the new compilation album Eat Your Friends, comprising remixes and covers of Hidden Shoal artists, by Hidden Shoal artists. This freely downloadable album not only showcases the wealth of original music released through Hidden Shoal, but also the creative ingenuity and deft musical touch of the remixers and cover artists.

    From searing solar-flared adaptations to delicately reconstructed covers, deep space jam reworkings, and shimmering ambient tapestries, Eat Your Friends reimagines the Hidden Shoal discography in new and beautiful ways, playing to all the strengths of the roster’s dizzying array of talent.

    Includes remixes and covers by: Antonymes, Arc Lab, Glanko, Wayne Harriss, Liminal Drifter, Makee, Chloe March, Markus Mehr, Erik Nilsson, REW<<, Slow Dancing Society, Tin Manzano, Willem Gator, and Zealous Chang  of music by: Arc Lab, Brother Earth, Cheekbone, City of Satellites, Medard Fischer, Gilded, Glanko & Daniel Bailey, Kryshe, Memorybell, Erik Nilsson, perth, Slow Dancing Society, Tangled Star, Umpire, and Zealous Chang.

    Eat Your Friends is available now as a free download via Bandcamp and is also streamable via SoundCloud. Listen and then throw yourself into the wormhole as you explore the originals and more work by the remixers and cover artists.  For all the filmmakers, games designers and others in need of engaging music, don’t forget that all tracks in our catalogue are available for licensing (film, tv, games, compilations etc).

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  • Antonymes Mix Commisioned for BBC Radio Wales

    AntonymesLast saturday night Ian Hazeldine’s (aka Antonymes) mix commissioned for BBC Radio Wales was broadcast on Adam Walton’s show. Adam broadcast an extended show from Festival No.6 in Portmeirion, North Wales.

    Check out Adam’s wonderful intro to the mix, entitled Twelve Thoughts (Fifty Four Years),

    “Now here on BBC Radio Wales for the next hour we move to a brand new mix from Antonymes AKA Ian M Hazeldine from Hawarden in North Wales. Gladstone country. Ian’s music defies any easy categorisation. It’s experimental, but accessible, contemporary classical without being opaque pretentious and minimal without being whispy and insubstantial. It’s organically textural, but still, honestly, hummable.

    Antonymes extensive back catalogue is a reflection of the human psyche and it’s contemplation of all the big themes: love, death, sanity and beauty in all of their complexities, and I can’t recommend that back catalogue highly enough.

    I suspect that the next hour celebrating some of the artists that shaped works like Antonymes’ truly remarkable “(For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly” album, interweaved with some of Ian’s own music, will be one of the most beautiful, unsettling and transportive that will be broadcast anywhere in the UK in 2016, and I’m deadly serious. I’m not just talking it up for a fact.

    So, now, over to you Antonymes…”

    Listen, enjoy, share and buy music by these incredible artists via the MixCloud restream.

     

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  • Antonymes Wins Award For “Breathless” Soundtrack

    AntonymesThe utterly beautiful short film Breathless, featuring the music of our very own Antonymes, recently won the award for Best Background Music at the Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival! Breathless also took out the award for Best Cinematography at the festival so congrats to the team all round. We’re excited to share the film with you once the film has finished the festival circuit.

    In the meantime be sure to check out Antonymes latest works here.

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  • Antonymes Featured on New Le café abstrait Compilation

    Le café abstrait Vol. 11The gorgeous Antonyme‘s track ‘La fin de tout’ has been featured on the new Le café abstrait, curated by Raphaël Marionneau. Volume 11 in the Le café abstrait series is available digitally via iTunes and in digital and CD formats via Amazon.

    ‘La fin de tout’ is originally lifted from Antonymes’ debut album, Beauty Becomes The Enemy Of The Future. Be sure to check it out along with the rest of Antonymes’s amazing catalogue of works. All works are also available for licensing (film, tv, games, compilation) so please do contact us if you have any projects you’d like to talk to us about.

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  • Antonymes Featured On Official Spotify Playlist

    AntonymesThe stunning Antonymes track ‘Elegy (IV)’ has been included in the new official Spotify playlist Music For Concentration. The track sits among a set of beautiful music from the likes of Nils Frahm, Dustin O’Halloran, Jon Hopkins, Max Richter, Harold Budd, Broken Social Scene and more. Check out the playlist here.

    ‘Elegy (IV)’ is taken from Antonymes‘ sublime new album, (For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly which is available now via Bandcamp and the usual 3rd party online stores. Contact Hidden Shoal for all Antonymes licensing inquiries.

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  • Antonymes “Delicate Power (In The Hands Of Others)” EP, New Music Video

    Delicate Power (In The Hands of Others) Cover ArtHidden Shoal is proud to announce Delicate Power (In The Hands of Others), a new EP by acclaimed neo-classical ambient artist Antonymes featuring the single ‘Delicate Power’.

    ‘Delicate Power’ is the second single to be taken from Antonymes’ sublime new album (For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly. The track showcases Antonymes deft musical skills with its restrained rhythms infusing the melodies with a gravitas that is at once warmly human and gravely austere. The single is accompanied by a gorgeous music video filmed by the incredible people at Chasing Light and shot on location at a beautiful, hidden otherworld in mid Wales.

    The hypnotic rhythmic underpinning of ‘Delicate Power’ has invited five magical re-workings on this EP, each with its own subtle majesty. Marconi Union tease the original into a beautifully orchestrated anti-gravity ballad. Markus Mehr’s inimitable skills for re-invention have helped him to create a brooding version that draws heavily on the original’s rhythmic details. Lvmark’s reinterpretation foregrounds the melodic elements of the original, wedded to gently pulsing electronica. Alongside these three guest remixes, there are two reworkings from Antonymes himself: ‘Delicate Power’ (Waltz For Mary Anne)’ transforms the original into a beautiful, late-night swing, and ‘Delicate Power (Jung’s Drug Drum Waltz)’ lives up to the promise of its title with more heft to its woody rhythms.

    Delicate Power (In The Hands of Others) is available now via Antonymes’ Bandcamp and the usual 3rd party online stores. Be sure to check out Antonymes’ sublime new album (For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly while you’re there.

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  • More airplay for Antonymes on BBC6

    Delicate Power (In The Hands of Others) Cover ArtMore airplay for Antonymes on BBC6 thanks once again to Mary Anne Hobbs. She rounded off her 6 Music Recommends show this week with “Delicate Power (A Waltz For Mary Anne)”, which is taken from the forthcoming Remix EP, Delicate Power (In The Hands Of Others).

    Delicate Power (In The Hands Of Others), which will see release on the 31st of June 2016, features remixes from Marconi Union, Markus Mehr, Lvmark and Antonymes. Stream the show here and check out the trailer for the EP below.

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  • New Antonymes EP Trailer

    AntonymesWe’re excited to announce the forthcoming Antonymes EP, Delicate Power (In the Hands of Others). The EP which sees the light of day on the 31st of May features remixes from Marconi Union, Markus Mehr, Lvmark and Antonymes himself.

    Check out the EP trailer at Youtube or Vimeo and also stream the single ‘Delicate Power’ over at SoundCloud ahead of the EP release. ‘Delicate Power’ is lifted from Antonymes stunning new album (For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly, available now.

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  • Antonymes Featured on Radio National’s Inside Sleeve

    (For Now We See) Through a Glass DimlyAntonymes has been featured on the latest edition of Inside Sleeve on ABC Radio National. His work will also feature on the next show which will be dedicated to piano based works. Thanks to the lovely Paul Gough!
    Antonymes new album (For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly is available now for purchase and streaming. Check out all the details here.
     
     
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More News

Reviews

  • “Eat Your Friends” Compilation Reviewed at DOA

    “Over almost a decade, Hidden Shoal records developed a reputation as a consistently innovative and experimental music label, giving to us music of remarkable qualities whether it was the instrumental excursions of Gilded, the blissed-out indie of My Majestic Star, the electronica of Marcus Mehr, the alt.folk stylings of Kramies – the HSR list of significant talents was a lengthy one. I say was, as in 2014 or thereabouts, the Hidden Shoal label underwent a reorganisation of sorts, and it began to seem that one of the more influential Australian record labels of the recent past was itself going into hiding. Perhaps so, although only to return refreshed, renewed, invigorated and with its varying artistic visions intact – the Eat Your Friends compilation proves that the Hidden Shoal label is properly with us again.

    One thing I’ve found when reviewing compilations is that not infrequently, when I put them into my music players, the tracks separate instead of remaining in their album folder, and that has happened with my copy of Eat Your Friends, encouraging me to view each of the tracks as a single release rather than view the album itself as a cohesive whole. Then there’s the fact that only some of its contributors are already known to me and so, ditching some of my preconceptions about what it’s going to sound like, I began listening to the 11 tracks in a random sequence, and prepared for the unexpected.

    Firstly, there’s singer/songwriter Erik Nilsson’s “Moksha Can Wait”, a song which electronic composer Marcus Mehr has taken and adapted to his subtly developed production sound, a track that begins almost inaudibly and builds to a staggering crescendo of soaring, roaring electronic sound and with Nilsson’s guitar and piano providing a counterpoint to Mehr’s swirling atmospherics. The ambient chill of City Of Satellites is given an added gloss by Tim Manzano, although I’m not so sure what he’s actually done with the track – it does sound a lot like the City Of Satellites I know from their Machine Is My Animal album, although as the track progresses and the rhythm and bass begin to disintegrate into a dubby conclusion it seems more apparent where Manzano has left his mark. Arc Lab’s “Through The Burning Glass” is remixed by Glanko, beginning with a club-level bassline before levelling into a noir tinged synth epic. And just when you thought the tracks on Eat Your Friends were entirely instrumentals, Rew perform a cover version of Umpire’s “Green Light District” and they do it with a vocal, alongside the strings and crashing cymbals and haltingly uncertain rhythms, a highlight of an album each of whose tracks is in one or another way remarkable.”

    DOA

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  • Antonymes “(For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly” Reviewed at Il Cartello

    [Translated via Google. Read the original here.]

    “Antonymes makes its big return with what is probably his best work. Intimate and introspective work.

    Antonymes (Ian M Hazeldine) returns and does so with a monumental album. Three years from There Can Be No True Beauty Without Decay with which the composer questioned on the subject of beauty, a few days ago he released his fourth album (For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly.

    A title with clear reference to the famous stretch of the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 12 ( “Now we see through a glass, darkly; then face to face”), who also inspired the cinematic masterpiece Bergman’s Through a glass Darkly. The artwork is the other piece of the puzzle that goes to indicate the meaning of the work: a piano which also has the task of representing the music, an empty chair, a faint light or shadow. British artist seems to question the existential situation, the discomfort that brings life in its deeper meaning, impossibility to communicate: art becomes the only way to alienate to try to understand certain dynamics.

    The musical construction is almost perfect and compared to the past seems to leave less space minimalist approach in favor of a texture based on growth and on the small nuances that fluctuate in narrow spaces. Essential contributions of James Banbury ( The Auteurs ) Christoph Berg (Field Rotation) Stefano Guzzetti (who also worked on the mix with Paul Humphreys), Joanna Swan (Ilya) and writer Paul Morley. Burning by the “master” Rafael Anton Irisarri .

    The link with the past can be heard in songs like Delicate Power, Elegi (iv) and A Sadder Than Light Waning Moon with piano notes that fit into the flicker of overhead line as a manifestation of the uncertain path to knowledge. Opening with The Lure of The Land and the title track brings us to an environmental tension that is the semi-symphonic development to which we referred before, between control and care of its “explosion.” Elegy (ii) also makes the ‘vocal aspect that strongly increases the emotional part that has increased in the spoken-word minimal carpet of Little Emblems of Eternity. Sixteen Fifteen ZeroSix and piano and strings by overlapping Towards Tragedy and Dissolution combine the best the two souls so far described.

    The ten compositions show how Antonymes is a musician who not only exceeds the one-dimensional concept of the music but also exceeds that multi-dimensional art itself: his music becomes a form of collective contemporary analysis and at the same time intimate. They are not offered solutions or paths but is simply handed the musical instrument as a means of observation with a strong emotional impact. The proof of the greatness of the artist which probably made his best work in communication and expression level.”

    Il Cartello

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  • Antonymes ‘Towards Tragedy and Dissolution’ Reviewed at The Sunday Experience

    “Beautifully elegant, steeled in mournful bitter sweet solemn whilst graced and adored in a classicist crafting, amid the hurly burly madness of pop, silently withdrawn in a quiet place shivered and shy sits the hidden lair of Antonymes. A new album about to break cover on the ever adored hidden shoal imprint by the name ‘(for now we see) through a glass dimly’ from which, sent ahead on scouting duties, appears the mournfully touched ‘towards tragedy and dissolution’. Aided and assisted by various members of the Auteurs and Field Rotation, this heart heavy tear stained mosaic serenades in solemn reflection, rendered frozen between hope and regret, above the maudlin and melancholic crawl of the shyly trembled key braids hover fretful strings in sympathetic fear and caution, the effect so tenderly bruised and vulnerable you feel the urge to rest a supportive arm around its fragile and failing shoulder.”

    The Sunday Experience

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  • Antonymes “(For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly” Reviewed at Cultural Field

    [Translated via Google. Read the original here.]

    “Ian Hazeldine from Hawarden / North-Wales on his new Opus, a meditative ambiance and contemporary classical music dominated by piano and strings, and a perfectly structured sequence of the individual pieces provide an uplifting listening experience, punctuated windplay sequences From the conventional jazz section and the vocal parts of the singing artists Joanna Swan, Martine Bijn and Jan Van den Broeke intensify the melancholy basic mood and the overall impression of depth relaxation. The chamber-orchestral character of the production dominates far more than the electronic additions, but the latter do not sound in any sequence superfluous or even disturbing.”

    Cultural Field

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  • Antonymes Reviewed at The Sunday Experience

    “Staying with hidden shoal a little while longer here’s two visitations by Antonymes, well sort of, first up the simply divine ‘towards tragedy and dissolution’ – a slice of impeccable Autumnal classicism cut with such tenderness it emotionally tears and stings with bitter sweet elegance – frail, fragile and poised whilst deftly stirred in a delicacy and an embrace of a forgotten songcraft.

    Next up Antonymes’ ‘delicate power’ this time re-aligned and re-imagined by Marconi Union who if I recall rightly we mentioned in passing several missives ago. Anyhow here they stretch out a comforting arm to somewhat cuddle out a thawing warmth to the original bringing it in from its touching isolation and tending to it an affectionate sepia glow and an adoring monochromatic musical box motif teased in genuflecting key string opines which if anything rather than dull the classicist magneticism serve to compliment it.”

    The Sunday Experience

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  • Antonymes “(For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly” Reviewed at Headphone Commute

    “Ian Hazeldine’s music as Antonymes has been on my rotations for years. He’s even made an exclusive mix for Headphone Commute, titled The Spaces Between Seconds. In 2011, The Licence To Interpret Dreams was selected as one of the best albums of the year, in our Music For Withered Leaves And Lonely Fishtanks category. In 2013, Hazeldine released There Can Be No True Beauty Without Decay on hibernate, and with his latest, titled (For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly he’s back on the Australian Hidden Shoal Recordings. If you’re interested about his entire catalog, make sure you also pick up Like Rumours Of Hushed Thunder out on Time Released Sound in 2011.

    This fourth full-length feels immediately somehow ‘fuller’ than previous contemplations. Perhaps it is the sound of a complete orchestra that makes this neo-classical composition complete, with contributions from Christoph Berg, Stefano Guzzetti and James Banbury, being the most recognizable names among the many others. Mostly major in tonality and harmony, the album’s expansive palette glides across the summer landscape, like a soundtrack to a film shot on the pastures of the Italian countryside. Vocals tend to round off the appearing elegies, but still, somehow on a very positive, nearly celebratory note. Even the more somber pieces, such as the one titled “Towards Tragedy and Dissolution” carry the moments of faith, hope and optimism.

    I wouldn’t be surprised to find Hazeldine’s compositions appearing in the credits of some upcoming televised series, as the restrain perceived through his minimalism can easily fit within the foreground (and the background) of a scene. The spotlighted piano tells a wistful tale, but without the darker shadows which often appear within the noir-fi style of the genre. Instead the music is pensive, elegant and grand, striking all the right chords this morning, as the clouds are slowly replaced by the sun.

    Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri, I’d like to recommend this album for fans of Bersarin Quartett, Oland Mill, Bing & Ruth, Brambles, Moon Ate the Dark, Christina Vantzou, A Winged Victory for the Sullen, and, for obvious reasons, Field Rotation (that’s above mentioned Christoph Berg).”

    Headphone Commute

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  • Antonymes “(For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly” Reviewed at PopNews

    [Translated from the French via Google]

    “The new disc of Antonymes is not a season record but rather whether or as responding to the doubts and heat of our summer. Fresh ideas proposed can not be refused, especially when she is dressed in finery Post Rock or Neo-Classical.

    In summer, the pace slows down, we let win by heat. Slowly but surely, it is diluted in a few drops of sweat. So we seek some corners of shade, serene spaces where you can not see trucks mow crowds or hate speech which kill the good consciences.

    The music saves us everything and ourselves. Without that we want, without anyone really knowing. Take the draft Ian M.Hazeldine, Antonyms and his new album, “(For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly”. It comes into friend. Yet, on paper, to read, the proposal could be a foil . Because here we speak of Post-Rock and Neo Classical. But in English, it is mainly a question of trying to create scenes with musical moods, sophisticated set designs. Beginning with the lyrical and evaporated “the Lure of the Land “, things are posed with dramatic increases of violin that are reminiscent of the best of Jóhann Jóhannsson.

    Sometimes in the album, there are songs like quiet islands awaiting to be discovered. This is true of “Elegy (I)” which grabs you and does not let go. It’s like the meeting between Arve Henriksen and singer Patrick Cassidy as the folklore of a forgotten world. If you can remember or do not feel a shiver through you, I can only advise you to consult your doctor as soon as possible.

    The least we can say is that Ian M Hazeldine knows to surround himself. No less Christoph Berg, Paul Morley or Rafael Anton Irissari who mixed the disc. Moreover we feel the leg of Mr. disseminated any lightweight disk.

    “Towards Tragedy And Dissolution” college in the same territories as the wonders that can do when they met Ketil Bjørnstad and David Darling. We often think of the ECM label for this science delicacy. It would suffice to not much to it flimsy house of cards and get lost in an ocean of anecdotes or boredom. Ian M.Hazeldine remains on the bridge throughout the disk and whether with “delicate Power” or “Elegy (IV)” as a variant the famous island of the first, he slowly develops a much stronger structure than it seems. resistant to our doubts, our consumer weariness. for what creates the attraction of this disc, the immediacy time surface is that it takes time to leave approached.

    Where one might store it in a particular case, Antonymes likes to shuffle the cards as with “Fatal Ambition” where one might think sometimes in a David Lynch film accompanied by Angelo Badalamenti then delve into a slow atmospheric rise to the edge of nothing with the sumptuous “a Sadder than Light Waning Moon” not very far from what offers Keith Kenniff with Goldmund.

    That may be the long exploration “Sixteen Fifteen Zero Six” that one feels most the presence of Rafael Anton Irissari with this mixture of strength and curves like shadows.”

    PopNews

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  • Antonymes “(For Now We See) Through a Glass Dimly” Reviewed at SoWhat

    [Translated from the original Italian via Google]

    “Charming and with a distinctive imprint kinematic unfolds “(for now we see) through a glass dimly”, fourth Antonymes hard pushing the environmental minimalism Ian M. Hazeldine towards more coordinated prone to an orchestral breath and contamination with other sounds.

    The sense of melancholy desolation, which is always present in the musical and photographic production of Hazeldine, continues to be the pivot around which the story develops, featuring the usual piano plots here are completed through the use of new elements. Among the airy symphonic openings of “The lure of the land” and chamber music textures of “Towards tragedy and dissolution” enhanced by an emphasis of the sound of the strings, are declined voice grafts space according to the ethereal singing of “Elegy II” ol ’emphatic starred in “Sixteen zero six fifteen” and “Little Emblems of Eternity”, but also the use of additional instruments such as the trumpet, which is combined with the elegance of the piano melodies in “Fatal ambition”.

    The result of this new direction, which, starting from the consolidated narrative amplifies the flow rate, is undoubtedly fascinating and track a possible and interesting evolution in the artistic development of Antonymes project.”

    SoWhat

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  • Antonymes “Delicate Power (In The Hands Of Others) Reviewed at The Sunday Experience

    “elegant and elegiac are descriptions so freely handed out these days that they somewhat lose a little in their meaning. Yet conversely, applied to Antonymes, they somewhat falter and fall short in truly unmasking or rather more, getting to the nub, of the eloquence and sensitivity of expression at play within his compositional craft. Tendered in a delicacy of touch and a sparseness of detail, the result of such a communion is far from slight and light, but fulsome and lush, ‘delicate power’ lifted from his recently released set for hidden shoal entitled ‘(for now we see) through a glass dimly’ is title alone very revealing of this. For here it’s were the coalescing calm of a pausing moment of isolation breathes a reflective sigh to mourn, romance and contemplate in solitude all the time its tenderness and poise tempered in symphonic gestures that backwardly glance to a timeless toning of tongue. As said the track heads up a new EP titled ‘delicate power (in the hands of others)’ that features reworked interpretations by Markus Mehr, Lymark and Marconi Union.”

    The Sunday Experience

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  • Antonymes “(For Now We See) Through A Glass Dimly” Reviewed at Kulturforum

    [Translated from the original German via Google. Read the original here.]

    “Pure euphony presents Ian Hazeldine from Hawarden / North Wales on his new opus, a dominated by piano and strings dance from worn, meditative ambient and contemporary classical music and a perfectly structured sequence of individual pieces provide an uplifting listening experience, selectively incorporated Winds sequences from the conventional jazz section and the vocal parts of the song artists Joanna Swan, Martine Bijn and Jan Van den Broeke reinforce the melancholy mood and the overall impression of deep relaxation. The chamber orchestra character of production dominated far more than the electronic additions, but the latter sounded superfluous or even distracting in any sequence. (**** ½)”

    Kulturforum

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Licensing

Antonymes’ music is  available for licensing (master & sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please contact us with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.