Austere
Austere is an anonymous electronic music group known for producing work in a range of styles including classical minimalism, psybient, ambient, dark ambient, drone, glitch-ambient, and downtempo drum and bass. The group began collaborating in 1997, with their first release issued on January 1, 1998. Although they maintain anonymity, they are loosely based in Portland, Oregon, through an affiliation with Sound-O-Mat Recordings.
The two members of Austere have lived in several locations, including New York City, North Chatham in the United Kingdom, Portland, Seattle, Brighton, and San Francisco.
Their recordings in the classical minimalism genre, such as "Convergence", "Eco", "Pulse", and "Vox", draw influence from Steve Reich’s process music, particularly as described in his 1968 essay "Music as a Gradual Process".
Austere has collaborated with artists including Abstract Audio Systems from New York City, In The Now from Brighton, and Stephen Philips of Dark Duck Records.
The group has contributed music to various video and film projects. They provided the soundtrack for "The Thin Horizon", an independent film by Michael Peters of Artifexwerks in Forest Grove, Oregon. A track from the Dark Duck Records Drone Download Project was used in the independent film "Claude's Room". Their music has also been featured in several music videos, including "Abandon" and "Tiny Danser".
Members of Austere have also pursued solo projects under the names The Mystifying Oracle and Freq. Magnet. Freq. Magnet has released three full-length CDs, a DVD, and a track on a Hypnos compilation album.
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