Bonus track (exclusive to Bandcamp download) :
"A Bigger Spider" (Mark Tamea Remix - 2014)

Copyright © 2014 Bearsuit Records, ℗ 2014 Bearsuit Records

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Tracklist :
01. Lullaby
02. A Shining Space
03. Rain
04. Waterspeakers
05. Gambol
06. A Third Of Birds
07. Tacky Tigers
08. A Bigger Spider
09. Kite
10. Lightbox
11. A Bigger Spider (MarkTamea Remix)



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Harold Nono - "To The River Lounge" (BS004 - 2007)

There is an eerily intriguing quality to this album. ...A Marie Celeste-like air of mystery hangs over To The River Lounge, and that's all to the good.
[The WIRE]

Extremely beautiful and glistening slices of minimalism
[BGN - WHITE_LINE]

Light touches of an electronic kind leave hairs on end and ears gently strained... this is a laid back album, with a menacing undercurrent... [subba-cultcha]

It delivers in truckloads. A great piece of ambient work. He deserves to have this album truly break into popularity and establish him as a leading artist in his field.
[Bandidge]

I like this album alot.. it's brilliant.. and you need to own it!
[Something Instrumental]

[Tacky Tigers] ...a disarmingly pretty, twinkling tune suggesting a particularly warped but wonderful update of Disney's 'Fantasia'. (Leonard's Lair)

It's completely unique and I have never heard anything like this before... a high intensity listen.
[the-mag]

Strange and beautiful ...haunting
[Julie Christensen - Divine Horsemen, Leonard Cohen]

To The River Lounge is truly a great album
[We Heart Music]

To The River Lounge' permette di entrare in contatto con la ricerca di un artista brillante, un musicista autore di composizioni...
[Rocklab]

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Harold Nono - "To The River Lounge" (BS004 - 2007)

Information about Harold Nono is hard to come by. In this instance it's actually helpful to be bereft of biographical notes because there is an eerily intriguing quality to this album. The vocal fragments of opener "Lullaby" are gothically disquieting while the juxtaposed elements of "A Shining Space" - shards of female vocal, brief snatches of middle eastern guitar - lie in the mix like random smithereens of some nuclear catastrophe. The tolling bell of "Waterspeakers" and the ghostly incantations of "A Third Of Birds" only unnerve still further. A Marie Celeste-like air of mystery hangs over To The River Lounge, and that's all to the good.
[The WIRE]

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With Harold Nono's superb 'To The River Lounge' you can expect to hear compositional brilliance, engaging themes, the industrialization of audio concepts and vision, oriental vox explorations, and above all else.. an example of what innovation and invention sound like when they're combined perfectly. The musicianship that's been applied to this project sometimes meanders between the bedsheets of experimental and industrial collage. What I particularly admire is the inventive approach that's been applied to tracks like 'Lullaby', 'Waterspeakers', 'A bigger spider', and 'Lightbox'. If these tracks are difficult on first play, they'll be rather binding on the second. Harold has a knack of engaging the listener and you have to listen intently to get the real benefit of unpredictability that I think Harold's going for.
I like this album alot.. it's brilliant.. and you need to own it!”
[Something Instrumental]

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I am rewarded on subsequent listens with the obtuse and angular workings of “A Shining Space”, that puts me cleanly into Murcof territory. Clipped sampling, and erratic rhythm treatments are very much the order of the day, and appear to be Nono’s stock-in- trade. This is an oddly conflicted collection that at first appears ambient, then suddenly throws in something odd and challenging in equal measure. This could be Susumo Yokota, or Biosphere, Aphex Twin, or some hybrid offspring of all of the above. Nono occasionally breaches his comfort zone with some extremely beautiful and glistening slices of minimalism, indeed, in my opinion, he is at his best when at his most restrained and reduced. The style of Nono’s work is equally reflected in the charming and naïve painting rendered on the cover. For me, the high points would be the wonderful “Tacky Tigers”, or the meandering, off-centre beauty of closing track, “Lightbox”.. I am very pleased to announce that this album shows a maturity and depth of vision worthy of some of the artists I have likened it to. If you haven’t encountered the work of Harold Nono, then this would be a fine point of entry to the work of an artist who would appear to be perched on the brink of more prominent recognition.
[BGN - WHITE_LINE]

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Not so much a sing-along affair; it's more of a vibrant expression of art. 'Lullaby' starts of the proceedings with a varied arrangement of oriental vocals, industrial style noise and abrupt time-freezes, which together create a seriously outrageous collaboration. 'A Shining Space' begins invading you with extremely unsettling white-noise creations (at least I hope that's what it is - and not my CD player tuning into pure evil). My eyes gaze over flashes of films like The Grudge and The Ring and in all honesty I would rather be somewhere else than listening to this CD! It's completely unique and I have never heard anything like this before. Harold Nono is very good at what he does. His artistic mindset harrows deep into these tracks creating a high intensity listen.
[the-mag]

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What is this album? Minimal piano and strings with a garnishing of not quite there beats and out of place samples that actually sit very well together…opera singing and magpies and even a visit from a well known Windows exclamation sound. I’m thinking ambient lounge but even that doesn’t cover it particularly well. Why obsess about the genre ? I’m trying to convey the depth of surprise I felt while listening to it. This is an album that has little or no connection to modern life. It’s the sound of cigarettes and late nights and someone who has no interest in pleasing the masses. Why else would you leave a two minute gap at the end of a track (“Lightbox”) before a pretty little piano melody that sound like it came straight from a silent movie ? Because you don’t give a fuck, an attitude that pays hearty dividends in my opinion. I was given this as a trio of albums from the bold Bearsuit Records (all featuring Mr No No) and this was my favourite, although it only just pipped an album he did with a Japanese chap called Wakabayashi. I intend to grab both on CD and I look forward to hearing anything else that comes my way too.
[Sitting Now]

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Almost out of nowhere, we have yet another electronic solo artist truly deserving of admiration. Nono’s To the River Lounge is packed full of haunting, and at times uncomfortable, listening. He deserves to have this album truly break into popularity (or as much popularity as strange electronic acts can muster) and establish him as a leading artist in his field. Opener Lullaby absolutely pours Massive Attack (especially in the drum and bass work), which is only a good thing. You begin to enjoy yourself, but a sudden pause hacks into the music and leaves you mildly disorientated for a moment. However, this is only a very minor niggle, as the song maintains a singular theme based around ghostly Eastern women singing in some kind of dark limbo. It eventually peaks with some serious background fuzz/distortion, giving an incredibly deep rock sound that, unfortunately, seems more subdued than it should be. The album then winds into A Shining Space, a formidable effort in vocal and stereo experimentation. It begins with various uncomfortable, mysterious sounds that flutter from speaker to speaker, giving way to samples of a child cut and pasted haphazardly. The mood is similar to that of Boards of Canada thanks to these conventions, and the pleasant yet simultaneously dissonant instrumentation/sample processing and filtering. And while the album continues to deliver various tiny slices of ambience (quite possibly giving The Orbprops and subtle nods where they are due), it takes a few listens to really pick out highlights on the album. However, after you’ve picked out the highlights you still find that the album is completely enjoyable as a whole. So in that respect, the whole album is a stunning highlight of one man’s musical endeavours.
Third track Rain brings you swelling drones, minimalist piano twinkles and some slowly evolving and incredibly intimate background drums, all in the space of three minutes. You could be cheeky and call it a filler track, but that’s absolute bollocks. Tacky Tigers is a piece of genius, implementing orchestral sounds and samples into electronica a la Venetian Snares, but with a more playful and laid back approach. Previous track A Third of Birds goes in a similar direction, but instead uses orchestral atonality through lazy and frightening cellos and 3am violins played by people who haven’t slept in years. Cue the female vocal choir samples, and you feel like you’re in your worst nightmare. This track is most definitely the suicidal goth sibling to accompany its more light-hearted and optimistic counterpart. Bringing the album to a close, Lightbox leaves us on a somewhat optimistic, yet still incredibly minimal note. Harold Nono definitely knows how to appreciate silence between his music, with the reverberating strings leading into blanks where music doesn’t even need to be. It continues to cycle through the same theme until the track is cut down by silence half way through.
It delivers in truckloads. A great piece of ambient work. He deserves to have this album truly break into popularity and establish him as a leading artist in his field.
[Bandidge]

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"A Third Of Birds", uno de los temas más destacados del álbum, nos acerca a paisajes dignos de película histórica, lo que se refuerza en canciones como la preciosista "Tacky Tigers" que nos introduce a la parte final de la grabación que se cierra con la industrial "A Bigger Spider", la inquietante "Kite" y con "Lightbox", que pone un acertado punto final al álbum con sus bellas texturas orgánicas. En definitiva estamos ante un disco que crece a cada escucha y al que hay que darle el tiempo necesario sin exigirle un impacto directo. De este modo, poco a poco descubriremos la esencia de un gran artista...
[A Letter For The Stars]

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Nonostante la lentezza non risulta difficile rimanere intrappolati nella poetica delle suggestioni create dalla musica di Harold Nono, affascinante compositore scozzese di un’elettronica pacata e languida, tra suoni rarefatti e sample ben strutturati. A dare la marcia in più a 'To The River Lounge' sono i momenti inaspettati, le canzoni che riescono a colpire sin dal primo ascolto - come la splendida e sorprendente incursione bucolica di Tacky Tigers tra archi (eseguiti dal Saltire String Quartet) e xilofoni che uniti a fruscii e rumori danno il momento più anomalo e meglio riuscito del disco. Harold Nono riesce a regalare all’ascoltatore brani che catturano l’attenzione nonostante il loro minimalismo, variazioni sonore come quelle di Waterspeakers si rivelano un labirinto in cui far perdere le proprie percezioni. 'To The River Lounge' permette di entrare in contatto con la ricerca di un artista brillante, un musicista autore di composizioni suggestive ed interessanti senza rinunciare al semplice gusto dell’ascolto rilassato di un album ben riuscito.
[Rocklab]

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Edinburgh based painter and musician Harold Nono has worked with experimental classical composer Hidekazu Wakabayashi and the equally out there German artist Me Raabenstein, but on this, his fourth record, it was an almost entirely solo effort. Bar a string quartet on ‘A Bigger Spider’ and a drummer on ‘Tacky Tigers’, every sound and idea we hear on ‘To The River Lounge’ is from Nono. The dark Disney of ‘Tacky Tigers’, ‘Lullaby’s’ overwhelming electronica and ‘Gambol’, which is like post-rock played in binary with it’s heavy hum and cymbal splashes building forever are hardly easy listening either. Interspersed with those moments though, are the kind of strange and beautiful soundscapes like ‘Rain’ and ‘Lightbox’ which have been floating over from Iceland for nearly 15 years now. He not so much goes outside the box as scares it to death, Harold Nono is alone in his field.
[Die Shellsuit, Die!]

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è uno di quei dischi che si fa ascoltare spessissimo, ed ogni volta rivela nuovi colori e dettagli sfuggiti ai primi ascolti. Nello stile ricorda certa elettronica di matrice francese che vede in etichette come collectif effervescence e active suspension i propri alfieri. Come in quei casi, anche qui le atmosfere sono diversificate e raffinate, spesso con quell'aria da 'colonna sonora' che fa pensare che Nono (cognome impegnativo per un musicista, a pensarci!) farà strada.
[Sands-zine]

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I onda čovjek čuje svu ljepotu ovog artista kroz četrdesetak minuta albuma. Prva i najplesnija stvar cijelog albuma je "Lullaby" je lagani house electro-psycho plesni ritam (Throbbing Gristle+Depeche Mode+Einsturzende Neubauten+The Young Gods) kojeg prati samplirani ženski vokal i obilje eksperimentalnih zvukova koji su pred kraj korektno povezani i sa utjecajima electro/noise industriala zahvaljujući gitarskim samplovima, a druga "A shining space" je poznata s kompilacije "A Weevil In A Biscuit" (2007, Bearsuit Records) i donosi odličan kolaž glitch efekata, neo-folka, ambijentalne i avangardne glazbe (Laurie Anderson album "Big Science") sa vodećim sampliranim melodijama koje zvuče kao da su odsvirane na oud (orijentalno žičano glazbalo) i violončelo. Kompozicija je podijeljena u nekoliko uzajamno povezanih cjelina i prelama značajne poveznice s David Sylvianom u izdanju sa Nine Horses...
[Terapija]

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For lovers of ambient, atmospheric rock, [this] release is definitely a positive event. A mystical middle-eastern feel accompanies Nono's initial tracks ("Lullaby" and "A Shining Space"). The industrial and cerebral sounds of "Lullaby" encompass where Nono shines as an artist, and the track's underlying beat sounds heavily influenced by early Nine Inch Nails material. The album's tracks are atmospheric and it would not be surprising to find some of the Nono's work in upcoming film or theatre performances, as the ambient qualities of his recordings would certainly compliment a visual picture nicely.
[Lost At Sea]

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Opening track 'Lullaby' starts off rather basic, but over time, more and more sound elements come in. It becomes a really heavy layered kind of music. Soon an electronic sample is being played, which suddenly stops, and returns again. This time with lovely female vocals, seemingly without lyrics. It's very soothing, but it doesn't last, as there's another interval. After this interval, the excellent combination of aforementioned vocals and electronics return. I could listen to such tracks for hours on end. Towards the end a shrieking electric guitar drops in as well for a climax. Excellent opening track. 'A Third Of Birds' is once again a very calm track, with string instruments playing over a hypnotic and very dark and deep drum. Female vocals are added, as well as some electronic noises. Very nice again. 'A Bigger Spider' on the other hand is very fragmented, with lots of sudden silences. It's a peculiar track, and it's atmosphere is very intense and even hostile.
[Heathen Harvest]

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Edinburgh based musician Harold Nono is a man of many talents; an explorer of painting, punk rock and now electronic music. With patience the listener will surely find themselves rewarded with music that is far from heavenly and too disparate to be hellish. This is music that truly manages to touch and tap human emotions. This album is beyond doubt a definitive bridge between the unconscious and the electronic.
[Rave Magazine]