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FOMALHAUT / NIMH: From the Longest Winter (CD 2023 - Zoharum)

From The Longest Winter is a joint album released by a duet involving Giuseppe Verticchio (from Nimh) and Tomek Borowski (alias Fomalhaut).
Filled with lush soundscapes and freely moving oceanic electroacoustic waves, this new offer is a convincing mind-sonorous travel in thrilling, engulfing, and uplifting sonic textures.
Nimh is a well known and long time established multi-faceted ambient project whose musical trajectory borders ethno-ritualism and striking noise ambient with hints of post-rock melodicism.
Fomalhaut is a totally new name for me, but I pleasantly discovered its creative input for this Four Hands release.
It’s difficult to classify this album in a specific musical field while it entangles granular abstract electronic minimalism with lighter ambient touches and almost e-guitar power-noises dipped in bleak orbital moves.
All-in-all, easily recommended for fans of Christian Fennesz, Noveller, Murcof et al-among other hybridized and fuzzed-out sonic sculptures.
Fans of adventurous music for grinding electronics and windy galactic minimalism (with dramatic tension and softer moves) will find here a strong interest.
- Philippe Blache - Igloomag

Giuseppe Verticchio è noto fra i seguaci della nicchia del dark-ambient e dell’elettronica per il suo progetto Nimh (oltre a LHAM, Hall of Mirrors, Twist of Fate e Maribor) e per aver collaborato in passato con artisti del calibro di Rapoon, Amon, Mauthausen Orchestra e Maurizio Bianchi.
Questa volta ha deciso di unire le forze con il musicista polacco Tomek Borowski e il suo progetto Fomalhaut.
La musica di questo nuovo album, intitolato “From The Longest Winter”, è molto oscura e fa venire in mente proprio le atmosfere brumose e invernali dei paesaggi nordici caratterizzati dalla presenza della neve.
Siamo dalle parti di un dark-ambient cupo con ambientazioni minimali. Tuttavia il pericolo di ripercorrere formule già esplorate in passato viene evitato grazie alla sensibilità di questi musicisti.
Effettivamente spesso mi è capitato di ascoltare, in questo genere, dischi che si assomigliavano troppo e in cui era difficile riuscire a distinguere chi ha qualcosa da dire da chi ripete semplicemente le stesse formule senza essere ispirato.
Non è questo fortunatamente il caso. Fin dalla prima traccia “Before The Night” traspare subito un’anima in questa musica introspettiva che riesce a comunicare delle sensazioni di una tristezza cosmica infinita.
Forse si sente in quest’occasione la mano di Fomalhaut anche se lo stesso Nimh aveva pubblicato in passato album in questo filone. Sembra di essere avvolti da una nebbia perenne che copre paesaggi invernali e desolati.
Credo che “From The Longest Winter” possa piacere sicuramente agli amanti del dark-ambient e dell’elettronica più oscura.
- Caesar - Ver Sacrum

Forget the deep freeze of marketing ruled mainstream ambient, as "From the Longest Winter" by partners in art and friends FOMALHAUT (aka Tomas Borowski) and NIMH (moniker of Giuseppe Verticchio) emerges as a haunting and mesmerizing soundscape — a masterful blend of obscure ambient textures that evoke the beauty and harshness of winter. This album, composed of seven evocative tracks, paves the eardrum for an introspective journey through the season’s stark contrasts (counterbalancing the scorching heat of summer in the area where I am writing at the moment!), weaving an intricate tapestry of cold and warmth, isolation and connection.
The voyage begins with "Before The Night", a 6-minute and 24-second prelude that gently ushers in the twilight. The darkened drones and suffocated harmonies create a dumb yet eerie atmosphere, capturing the stillness before the night fully descends. Ironically, this track about the impending darkness feels almost comforting, like the quiet before a snowstorm.
"Soil and Mud" follows, grounding the listener in the raw, elemental reality of winter. At 7 minutes and 30 seconds, it sounds like an exploration of the earth beneath the snow, the hidden life that persists despite the frost. The textures here are rich and organic, evoking the scent of damp soil and the crunch of frozen ground. There’s an ironic warmth in this immersion into the coldest depths of nature and the subtly rushing electric buzzes pouring out of the machines of Tomas and Giuseppe.
"The Unreachable Horizon" stretches out next, a 7-minute and 11-second odyssey that conveys the endless expanse of winter’s reach. The expansive soundscapes and ethereal melodies evoke a sense of vastness and isolation, yet there's a sublime beauty in this desolation. The horizon may be unreachable, but the journey towards it is filled with profound reflections.
"Under A Cutting Wind" cuts through the serenity with its sharp, biting tones. At 5 minutes and 4 seconds, this track captures the harsh, unforgiving winds of winter that strip the landscape bare. There’s a fierce beauty in its austerity, an ironic reminder that even the most brutal elements have their own kind of grace, rendered by an entrancing web of glass bells and blurred waving synth pads.
The titular track, "The Longest Winter", at 8 minutes and 6 seconds, stands as the heart of the album. This piece is a slow, meditative descent into the season’s prolonged stillness, enveloping the listener in a blanket of sound. It’s an ironic embrace — a track that seems to describe the harshest season, that provides a sense of warmth and solace by sounds that get more and more piercing and icy.
"Descent Of The Shadows" takes us deeper into winter’s night with 7 minutes and 33 seconds of brooding, introspective soundscapes. It’s a journey into the hidden corners of the dark, where shadows play and mysteries unfold. The music here is both eerie and captivating, a reminder that the unknown can be a place of wonder as well as fear, a contrast rendered by a kind of collision between warming and frozen frequencies.
Finally, "Last Day" closes the album with a poignant farewell at 8 minutes and 20 seconds. It’s a track that reflects on the passage of time and the promise of renewal. The irony of a song about endings that feels so hopeful is not lost — it’s a fitting conclusion to an album that finds light in the darkest season. At last!
Given the evocative power of the record, allow me a conclusion in verses:
"From the Longest Winter, where irony meets grace,
A symphony unfolds, in a secluded place.
For what is winter but a pause, a breath held tight,
Before the burst of spring’s resplendent light?
So listen close, with hearts unbound,
To this paradoxical beauty, in each sound.
For in the longest winter’s embrace,
Lies the promise of a warmer, gentler space."
- Vito Camarretta - Chain DLK

Un digipack molto curato e totalmente in bianco e nero. Cinquanta minuti di droni, tremolii, vibrazioni elettroniche, squarci ritmici disumani e improvvise aperture verso la luce, che possono richiamare alla memoria alcune soluzioni di Fennesz e Murcof.
La nutrita discografia di Nimh si completa con la collaborazione con Tomasz Borowski (Ohtar, Selbstmord), musicista polacco anch’esso edito alla dark ambient più evocativa, ed il risultato è di assoluto spessore.
Non soltanto l’atmosfera, come sempre catartica e travolgente, risucchia l’ascoltatore in una densità sonora senza precedenti, ma ogni pezzo appare come il tassello mancante di una visione che va di volta in volta ad esaurirsi e ricrearsi.
Nonostante l’approccio minimalista e questa ricerca della ridondanza, ‘From The Longest Winter’ si rivela un’opera di grande concretezza, come nella tradizione di Giuseppe Verticchio (Hall Of Mirrors, LHAM), e nel disegno finale spiccano anche singoli episodi come gli autorevoli ‘Before The Night’ e ‘Descent Of The Shadows’.
In attesa di comprendere se il dialogo tra i due artisti continuerà a lungo, consiglio vivamente l’acquisto perché, oltre ad aver prodotto un magnifico oggetto da collezione (affrettatevi perché duecentocinquanta copie terminano presto..), la collaborazione ha saputo elevare il livello qualitativo della proposta di entrambi.
- Lorenzo Becciani - Suffisso Core

Nimh e Fomalhaut riescono a creare una massa di suono non pesante ma completa. “Before the Night”, infatti, titolo che apre la loro fatica comune “From the Longest Winter”, sembra vivere di minuscoli fiocchi che, uniti uno con l’altro, ricoprono ed ottenebrano corpi ed orecchie.
Pura neve sonora, a riportarci a qualche mese fa ed a longitudini più rigide. Materia che può cambiare, diventare più pesante e che, a dispetto dei suoni, talvolta aerei ed eterei dei musicisti, poggia sul suolo: “Soil and Mud” sembra un grandangolo che dalle altezze riesce a calare fino alle profondità, raccogliendo le pulsazioni sonore di un immenso essere vivente come il nostro pianeta.
Avanzando arriviamo a delle suggestioni che oserei quasi definire “Simonettiane”, con una “Under a Cutting Wind” che potrebbe essere uscita a dei Goblin barricati in una capanna alpina.
Ma c’è molto altro sotto la neve, lievi arie meditative come se l’Himalaya fosse a due passi, un sentore di pericolo imminente, dietro la schiena, brividi che è difficile ascrivere senza dubbio al freddo o alla paura.
Recentemente, molta della musica che amo è in qualche modo legata al freddo, al viaggio, alle reazioni che in qualche modo corpo e mente possono avere se messe alla prova da temperatura, fatica, ambiente.
Musica che in qualche modo ci trapassa, non fungendo da “colonna sonora”, non sottolineando degli sforzi, ma trascendendo ed inglobando spettri più ampi di realtà.
Di sicuro “From the Longest Winter” è una di queste musiche, sorbetti da tenere oculatamente al proprio fianco tutto l’anno.
- Vasco Viviani - The New Noise

De uiterst ervaren Italiaanse artiest Giuseppe Verticchio brengt vanaf het begin van deze eeuw met enige regelmaat releases uit van zijn project Nimh, dat hij overigens al in de jaren 90 heeft opgetuigd. In die jaren was hij vooral actief in verschillende muzikale groepen als Twist Of Fate (droompop met shoegaze), Hall Of Mirrors (experimentele dark ambient), Maribor (dark ambient, drones, noise) en LHAM (abstracte ambient). Muziek die vaker beter in het donker dan in het licht gedijt. Dat geldt ook voor Nimh, waarmee hij al dan niet samen met andere artiesten afwisselende combinaties van ambient, drones, veldopnames en allerhande experimenten maakt. Nu is hij terug met het album From The Longest Winter, dat hij samen met Fomalhaut heeft gemaakt, het dark ambient vehikel van de Poolse muzikant en recensent Tomasz Borowski. De twee brengen niet slechts een soms der delen, maar duelleren als het ware met muziek om zo tot nieuwe inzichten en geluiden te komen. Hiermee doorkruizen ze ook dikwijls meerdere genregrenzen en doen die soms ook helemaal vervagen. Je kunt het grofweg een experimenteel mengsel van dark ambient, drones, psychedelische elektronica, subtiele beats en industrial noemen, maar de uiteindelijke output is meer diepgravend en minder duidelijk dan dat. Deze twee weten je al snel in de houdgreep te nemen, om pas na 50 minuten weer los te laten; al blijft dit album dan nog wel even nadreunen. Wat een fascinerend en soms ijzingwekkend samenspel van kracht en pracht.
- Jan Willem - The Subjectivisten

A Polish-Italian collaboration is on the other new release by Zoharum. Here we find Giuseppe Verticchio, a.k.a. Nimh and Tomek Borowski, who works as Fomalhaut. I heard a lot of work from the first but none from the second.
As far as I know, this collaborative work was done by exchanging sound files, and they leave it as a mystery who did what here. There is also no information about the instruments used. Electronics play a significant role, but so does the guitar. Field recordings might also have their place but might be heavily processed. The result, which should not be a surprise, is dark ambient. Rough around the edges with that bit of feedback and reverb ringing makes it even better. These seven pieces use a vast array of sounds and ideas, yet they also sound very coherent. The music here is quite a trip, both in the sense of going from one place to the next and creating headspace - another trip. There is undoubtedly a psychedelic element to these. It is not all pure drone music, as the two also use quite a bit of rhythm here and there, which adds an excellent drive to the music. In each piece, they take their time to explore the sound material and never stay too long in one place; in that respect, there is little repetition. An outstanding release of deep atmospheric, slightly disturbing dark ambient music, and maybe that's the downside, not the most original one. But in the capable hands of these two musicians, it all works out fine. The only thing I didn't understand is that the cover has no track titles, whereas they are mentioned on Bandcamp.
- Frans De Waard  - Vital Weekly

Płyta świetna pod każdym względem. Już tytuł mówi o tym by chwycić za ten krążek i zanurzyć się w chłodnej jego  zawartości by uciec przed ogniem lejącym się obecnie z nieba.. Ta mroczna komitywa zawiązana została przez Giuseppe Verticchio i Tomasza Borowskiego. Pierwszy to niemal  włoska legenda muzyki elektroniczno/eksperymentalnej, druga zaś postać mogła dać się poznać niektórym z nieco innej, muzycznie strony. Nie zmienia to faktu że wspólne ich dzieło to świetne ujęcie tego, na co może się składać gatunek zwany dark ambientem. Rozlane i wyludnione pejzaże z zaznaczone głębokim niepokojem,  kłębiący się mrok który niczym płatki śniegu osiada na skórze i pod nią wnika. Niepozbawione to naturalnego rytmu który nas prowadzi w głąb tego albumu by po każdym odsłuchu odkryć jakąś ukrytą kartę. Ledwie wyczuwalne lecz obecne nici melodii muskają nasze zmysły zniewalając nas przez prawie godzinę trwania tego świetnego krążka. Zachęcam do zapoznania się z tym materiałem! Zejdź w głąb podziemi, zanurz się w chłodzie...
- 412 Hz -

* Genre/Influences: Dark-Ambient, Cinematic.
* Format: Digital, CD.
* Background/Info: This album resulted from the collaborative efforts between Giuseppe Verticchio (Italy) and Tomasz Borowski (Poland). Nimh is a familiar and renowned name who has also collaborated with numerous artists while Formalhaut seems to be a new project.
* Content: Most of the tracks are driven by Dark-Ambient and Cinematic influences. It’s an ultra-dark sound universe created by boiling sound treatments and overwhelming, monstrous, sounds. There are passages featuring a somewhat Eastern sound atmosphere while I also noticed a slow cadence on one of the tracks. The last cut is more into reverie created by guitar playing and -effects.
+ + + : A successful collaboration always resulted from certain chemistry between the artists. That’s precisely what I experienced listening to “From The Longest Winter” revealing a true sonic match between both projects. I like the feeling of eternal darkness supporting this work and which has been created by a judicious mix between electronics and guitar. The way all these sounds have been assimilated and manipulated resulted in a dense sonic patchwork of heavy sounds and overwhelming sound waves. “Descent Of The Shadows” is my favorite track and I here like the slow kind of cadence bringing a true extra to the composition. The title track is another cut I’ve to mention for its somewhat Eastern atmosphere and the heavy sound treatments.
- - - : The last track of the album is the single cut that couldn’t convince me of being a kind of anticlimax to the aforementioned highlights. I also noticed there’s no tracklist featured on the CD-format artwork.
* Conclusion: This is a successful collaboration between two inspired and complementary artists.
* Best songs: “Descent Of The Shadows”, “The Longest Winter”, “Before The Night”.
- Stéphane Froidcoeur - Side-Line Reviews

Lavoro a quattro mani che vede coinvolti il veterano Nimh (Giuseppe Verticchio, già molto noto nell'ambiente) e il più giovane progetto polacco Fomalhaut, capitanato da Tomasz Borowski.
"From the Longest Winter" è un album classicamente dark ambient che vede però spostare in parte le coordinate già proprie di Verticchio, di norma assai malinconiche e sognanti, verso una struttura più mitteleuropea, fatta anche di masse tonali poderose e cupe.
Ha così luogo un album che mitiga il marchio di fabbrica di Nimh in favore di uno stile più classico da cui emergono i piangenti strumenti e le tenui melodie dell'autore romano, unite ad un mood a tratti magniloquente con sprazzi di rumore evocativo.
Le tematiche naturalistiche che guardano ad un gelo nordico e a cieli plumbei, passano dai titoli dei brani ai suoni con una facilità estrema, rendendo semplice quello che per tanti sembra impossibile.
È proprio questa la magia di un album che riesce a non scomparire nel marasma di un genere sovraffollato, ma che sa anzi ritagliarsi un posto singolare, forse non in linea coi gusti della massa, ma sicuramente dotato di personalità e carisma.
Da avere per tutti gli appassionati delle produzioni firmate da Verticchio, qui sorretto da un autore di cui sentiremo ancora parlare.
Solo 250 le copie prodotte in un bel digifile apribile.
- Michele Viali - Dark Room Magazine

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