Mount Shrine

Dark ambient project Mount Shrine is one of several aliases of Rio de Janeiro-born Cesar Alexandre. After several digital-only, self-released albums, he broke out in 2018 with Winter Restlessness, his debut for Cryo Chamber. Heavily influenced by Akira Yamaoka, composer of the Silent Hill video game and movie soundtracks, Alexandre started recording in his bedroom in the mid-2010s under the names Mount Hibiki, Kagutaba, and, later, Mount Shrine. Very prolific, he quickly self-released several albums of deep, involving drones peppered with field recordings and ghostly radio transmissions. He submitted a demo to cult label Cryo Chamber, which signed him and released his debut Mount Shrine album proper, Winter Restlessness, in 2018. Co-produced and mastered by label boss Simon Heath (Atrium Carceri), it had a rich, warm, comforting sound much less bleak and forbidding than the label's usual output. © John D. Buchanan /TiVo