A Closer Listen:

Lawrence English provides the mastering, Katie English the art, and Tehran’s Tegh & Kamyar Tavakoli end up with one of the most un-Hibernate sounding releases ever on the label. The EP sounds more like a bear that has been awoken from hibernation. Loud, thick and brash, Through the Winter Woods is a welcome late-season surprise.

Headphone Commute:

The burgeoning electronic music scene in Iran only seems to be getting more vibrant and shows no signs of slowing down. Through the Winter Woods is a new three track EP by Shahin Entezami (aka Tegh) and Kamyar Tavakoli. The duo have recorded together before under the name Artirial, but this album is a departure from the shimmering, glitchy ambient guitar driven IDM of that project into much denser sonic landscapes. The transition is not a tentative one. The sound of Through the Winter Woods is ambitiously expansive, strikingly bold and comfortably assured. To its credit, the record has been mastered by an artist who is very compatible with the cavernous aesthetics involved, none other than Lawrence English. The album begins with “Hollow” which grows from a funereal, rumbling drone to a roaring apex, just short of cacophony. The emotion is visceral and palpable. “Fractal” has a more mechanized feel, driven by spiny oscillations that rise to an intensity that nearly disintegrates before ebbing to a conclusion. The final track is the haunting “Disappeared Stratum” in which manages to sound simul-taneously immense and ethereal before fading into an outro that counterbalances the earlier dynamics with rich, unadorned guitar tones thus ending the album in a reflective mood.

Fluid Radio:

“Both based in Tehran, this collaborative project sees the duo using processed guitars, synths and field recordings to create densely textured pieces inspired by their urban surroundings. Both solo artists in their own right, the duo also work together under the name Artirial but were looking to branch out and try something a bit different for this EP. Having gathered various field recordings they began experimenting with new approaches to shaping sounds and textures, resulting in a diverse collection of pieces. The final product was mastered by Lawrence English at Room 40 headquarters.”

Igloo Magazine:

Through the Winter Woods by Tehran twosome, Shahin Entezami (aka Tegh) and Kamyar Tavakoli, previously solo (for example, Night Scenes and “A Glimpse“) and ensemble as Artirial, charts a new communion, ‘looking to branch out and try something a bit different.’ What they’ve come up with is a trio of sizzling audio-tracts outside Hibernate‘s customary bucolic comfort zone. The eponymous sylvan setting is unsettled with diverse Persian surgery dervishry brought to bear in ware and tear on sources (guitar…? keyboards…?) and field sounds. A storm is summoned up on “Hollow,” with solemn chords stretched and buffeted by sonic gusts whipping debris through shivering trees. “Fractal” brings more hail and howling in a vast saturated wave of fizzing harmony. A gradual gathering and dissolution, drone and pulse ceding to further frequencies and a static-soaked coda. “Disappeared Stratum” ends streaming vast inner-scaping sounds, calling in all points East of Tim Hecker and Talvihorros. All mastered to full power ambient effect by mist-maxer Lawrence English at Room 40 HQ.