Review: Kaarlo Herden & IT904 - Travelogue

Artist: Kaarlo Herden & IT904

Album: Travelogue

Label: Self-released

Release date: January 2026

2025 was a very fruitful year in terms of collaborations, so I was more than happy to stumble upon a curious new one (or rather, it stumbled upon me) at the very start of 2026. Kaarlo Herden & IT904 are pseudonyms of two Italian musicians with a background in various musical genres, although this is their first bona-fide dark ambient release. I admit that I was unaware of any of the two protagonists' previous work, but as one of this website's missions is precisely to uncover overlooked artists and shine some much-needed light onto them, I was more than happy to give it a listen. Besides, it's refreshing to unwrap an album with no preconceived expectations whatsoever, an increasingly difficult feat in today's hyperconnected world.

Travelogue is an overtly conceptual album, and it's clear from the track titles and the cover art that the thread that connects all the tracks is the desert. That concept transfers remarkably well into the sonic landscape conjured by the two musicians, as it reflects the same feeling of mystery, wonder and dread that a desert would: the unending vastness disappearing into the horizon, present for thousands of years yet constantly changing size and shape, recognizable after centuries yet looking different from day to day, its shifting dunes concealing secrets, wealth, memories and death. The sound here is appropriately subtle and minimal, shifting between old-school dark ambient atmospherics (think early Thomas Köner) and pulsating drones over four tracks that appear longer than they actually are, in the most positive sense. Incredibly for a debut album, the musicians behind the project resist the urge to paint their vision in bold colour and with screaming intent, instead preferring to let the footage play out and for the listener to immerse fully into the journey across space and time, ever with the desert as the backdrop. Each track is given sufficient time to breathe and develop, and the entrance is always as careful as the exit; even if the four tracks are quite different from each other in terms of dynamics, there's a clear mood connecting them all into a coherent whole. As with any minimalistic dark ambient album worth its salt, new sounds and layers do not reveal themselves at first listen, which makes Travelogue one of those albums that merit being listened to at high volume in absolute darkness. Despite the relatively limited number of tools espoused by the two musicians, the album remains compelling throughout and I never felt my attention drift even for a bit at any point.

New dark ambient projects of note are few and far between, and it's very encouraging to see that quality music can still emerge from total obscurity at any moment. Travelogue is a debut album that betrays the experience of the musicians behind it by its careful construction and the restraint it shows in communicating its message. It is not revolutionary or even evolutionary in any way, but it's a well-crafted piece of music that scratches a very particular and somewhat forgotten itch. That alone (sadly!) is enough to make it stand out in this day and age.

Rating: 8/10