Strom Noir is a project of Emil Matko, born in 1979 and now living in Bratislava, Slovakia. He is well known for his releases on Resting Bell (Kueyen), U-Cover (Ylomejja, KruhyNAvode), Ambsine (Luvyoo) and Format noise (Lorawa). Strom Noir creates beautiful ethereal guitar drones adding detail with field recordings and other sounds and is essential for fans of Beautumn and Sleepy Town Manufacture. Having thoroughly enjoyed Strom Noir’s releases on U-Cover this is certainly something I was keen to experience. First impressions count as ever and the gentle way that the first track ebbs in and then gently flows over you is a very good indicator of exactly how deep and fluid this work is going to be. Throughout you’re treated to a series of sound works that fulfil the need for dense layers of organic and electronic sound as well as having a subtle and melodic feel that’s an ever-present influence. It has to be considered as something to enjoy from beginning to end and it’s certainly an album that it would be pointless to try and break down track by track. It’s the overall feeling and the shifts between the tracks as they evolve that really captures you and the balance between dark and moody along with light, sculptural and somewhat joyous is why it’s such an appealing album. With work of this calibre coming out on a regular basis on Hibernate you can understand why I’m exceptionally pleased to bringing you this, yet another wonderful limited edition release. For those that love drone and ambient music this is a must and it comes with the official Smallfish seal of approval. Absolutely top class sounds normanrecords.com wrote: Following releases from Ian Hawgood, Chihei Hatakeyama, Porzellan, Northerner etc. Hibernate Records are treading a similar path to labels such as Home Normal, Under The Spire etc. The label name is fitting as they’re putting out just the sort of mega floaty stuff to put you to sleep this winter. Hence at this moment in time I’m listening to ‘Sen Zimnej’ Strom Noir which is the work of Slovakia based artist Emil Matko who has previously had stuff out on U-Cover, Resting Bell, Format Noise etc. It’s fairly spooked sounding at times with some bleakish drones, but for the greater part it’s very ethereal. Some most pleasant ambient/ guitar/ field recordings stuff that evokes floating over winter landscapes and melting snow. Once you get into the zone you’ll be in total bliss like the hibernating bear image that comes with the free sticker of this limited edition of 150 copies CD.