REVIEWS:

Chris Gowers, who hides behind the epithet Karina ESP, is something of a cult figure in the ambient community and has released music since 1998. He is also behind the record companies Evelyn Records and Trome and has played with groups of Signals and Rome Pays Off. Although it took until 2012 before he releases his first "real" album.

Full-length Detachment is published by the Belgian company Morc and musically, it is about atmospheric dronemusik. The disc consists of five slow pieces that slowly moves through the nuances of sounds. In the organic and barren find Chris Gower an expression which he explores with clarity. It is as if he allows the sounds to follow the natural variations. We hear the winter ice creak, fry the spring sun, summer, fall and fall slowly falling.

Gowers sometimes use conventional instruments like piano and guitar, sometimes roaring samples and electronics. As in "All the Years Have Fallen Away", which sounds of sea lions (?), Long guitar notes and volatile drones come together in a beautiful and inward-looking music. It also contrasts such as crackling and electronic noise that gets into welds that strengthens and holds together the music when the pieces quietly transformed.

Work on the disc Detachment has taken a long time and it is an effective reflective of that is reflected in Karina ESP's brilliant and deeply captivating music.
- Sound Of Music (translated from Swedish)

Karina ESP - Detachment (CD, Morctapes, Experimental/instrumental/ambient)
Subtle drone-like compositions from Great Britain's Karina ESP, the one man project created by Chris Gowers. These slow methodical pieces are not meant for casual music fans. You won't find catchy beats, hummable melodies, or anything of that sort here. The compositions on Detachment are peculiar noise creations prepared with precise and exacting attention to detail. Ambient music seems to either pull specific listeners in...or scare everyone else away. Fortunately we're in the former category...so we found these strangely hypnotic pieces to be quite beautiful and perplexing. Five slow moving tracks here: "Distant Light (1)," "Disconnection," "All The Years Have Fallen Away," "Dislocation," and "Slow Return." Very serious odd stuff...that will surely put you in a trance-like state...
- Baby Sue

Highly limited (to just 150 copies) this is a lovely warm sounding disc full of gorgeous ethereal drones and wandering tuneful bass tones. It has a loose improvised structure with washes of percussion here and there, the drones are pretty much uniform on the first couple of tracks so on track 3 'All the Years Have Fallen Away' it's nice to hear some acoustic strums and what sounds like a violin drone reminding me very much of 'Rustic Houses...' era Hood. Track 5 similarly sounds almost exactly like 'In Iron Light' by the same band with its looping backwards guitar. Very nice stuff!
- Norman Records

Chris Gowers is the man behind Karina ESP and once the owner of Evelyn Records and Trome Records, as well as a member of Signals and Rome Pays Off, and a frequent collaborator of Isnaj Dui, Circle Bros and Caught In The Wake Forever. As Karina ESP he has already recorded a whole bunch of CDRs, cassettes, 10" records since 1998. 'Detachment' was recorded in a matter of a few days following a short tour in Benelux late 2011, when Gowers went to Scotland and recorded this album with the help of Fraser McGowan (of Caught In The Wake Forever and Small Town Boredom). Five pieces here of what is best called 'guitar drone' music with a melodic touch. Its not his idea to play just a drone, but to add melodic touch to the music, with shimmering bass lines and small chords. There is the crackling of the guitar pick up as an additional instrument, sustaining of e-bow playing and finger picking string matter. Atmospheric music of the highest order. I was reminded of Windy & Carl and Yellow6, but there are of course countless others who did similar music over the years. That perhaps is the only thing one could have against it: it sounds very much like so many other things we know and its nothing new under the sun. Don't let that put you off if you like this sort of melodic, atmospheric drone music. Gowers does it with great care and style.
- Vital Weekly

The probability that you have heard of Karina Esp may be called rather small unless you stop in obscure environments where CDs and cassettes regularly change owner of course. Chris Gowers, the face behind the band, has been under the name since 1998, but now only really debuts with a full album on the Morc label in Ghent.
As is the case with small releases and labels, the label also applies immediately as a quality stamp and guideline. After all, Morc can be seen as the little brother of Kranky, who focuses even more on (guitar) ambient and drones and above all delivers artists for whom the word minimalism actually sounds too loud and versatile. The atmospheres and whispered melodies dare to merge into the background, so quiet it often goes. And that is no different for Detachment of Karina Esp.
It is a patchwork of gently struck guitar strings and well thought-out effect pedals that determine the tenor of the album and gently and cautiously scare the listener for a contemplative, walking walk of just a little over half an hour. Making a distinction between the songs remains a feat for the simple reason that, despite their clear diversity, they all essentially pursue the same feeling and atmosphere, so that only a dictionary of synonyms and metaphors can finally suffice to describe it, with which it also misses its goal. and becomes meaningless.
In other words, there is little left to do but to 'pass' the trip and to close the eyes of the first excited drones in "Distant Light (1)". The rational, self-conscious part of the brain will note that despite the hefty nine minutes the song passes by subtle melody shifts and almost unnoticed rhythmic guidelines that become prominent only in the last few seconds. Yet it is due to "Disconnection" itself, and more specifically the gritty start, that both songs do not blend smoothly into each other and thus define their own identity. Emotionally less complex, the song sings on feelings of loneliness and discomfort without putting the finger directly on the wound.
"All The Years Have Fallen Away", however, takes away the despair, or at least softenes it, by using a more pronounced sound palette and letting the individual strings come into their own against a wall of pulsing sounds. The richness of the song almost excels halfway through the record as a breaking point and centerpiece that leaves the listener in his slumber but does not let him or her descend to the true dreamland. And rightly so, because "Dislocation" is (again) a drone that lets itself be known in the details and does not shy away from desolate. "Slow Return", however, is still more minimalist and can hardly be noticed for ten minutes (or thereabouts). The sparse guitar strokes are the only point of recognition during the stretched trip.
Cautiously, barely noticeable and cautious, Karina Esp consciously debuts (?) On a small label with an album that addresses a select audience that is willing to step into the world of Gowers and give Detachment the time to unfold. After all, it is not a simple record that just reveals itself, but is revealed layer by layer until the core is visible and the unplayed is audible. Karina Esp opts for silences and minimal sound shifts to create a palette that releases its richness to those who are willing to show patience.
- Enola (translated from Flemish)