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Listening to Murmurations (34'53") is an ethereal experience. Showing no signs of uncertainty this album creates, lives in and explores its own unique realm. An ever-changing range of consonant harmonies, timorous timbres and pleasantly unrecognizable tones add to the pleasure of solitude. With no identifiable rhythms the only pulse from these five tracks seems to come from the echo trails that follow the demise of each reverberant note. The twilight gray and delicate pink land conjured up on Murmurations owes more to adagio aesthetics than to any piece of hardware or software that may have been used in its realization. The source material (provided by Chopin, Debussy, Holst, Satie and Tchaikovsky), rendered very nearly unrecognizable through processing, filtering and digital manipulation, provides a haunting sense of familiarity. Moving alongside dreamy, processed, and seemingly reversed sound samples, the listener gently disappears into a fogged up mental state. An enjoyable sense of unease lures us momentarily into a bit of dark territory - where even the most abstract moments are compelling. Are these disconnected fragments something we should be trying to align? Do the ideas found in this music have a life outside of it? What messages are coming from these Murmurations? Anyone seeking a deeper meaning from this work is trying too hard. These are just sounds being pushed through the air, and absorbed by our minds - the beauty is waiting there inside.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 1 January 2015 |
