This is the fifth solo album from former guitarist for The Unemployed Ministers, Markus Mehr. Across the eight tracks, the German experimental artist covers all manner of strange and confronting sounds while maintaining an underlying ambiance throughout.
There is a spacey droney introduction to the album through the two minute Buoy flowing into In the palm of your hands which then takes on a repetitive droney trip hop sound with various subtle samples in the background. Pedestrians consists of a miss mash of various electrical devices going off together, from the modern, to the fax machine and various other computers. Living on tape is a collection of answering machine messages from a guy named Bob to a guy named Louis demanding money, threatening legal action, and generally being aggressive. This is backed up by an industrial David Lynch-esq soundtrack. Gymnasium/Swarms sees the ambient and industrial droning sounds fair together with the track swaying from light vapor like sounds to harsh bursts of rage.
Power plant drifts towards the ambient side of things with light droning sounds wondering through. The result is something that is strangely relaxing.
This is a courageous release that really pushes the ideas of sounds and music with intriguing and sometimes confronting effect. At the same time there is a certain sense of placidity amongst the experimentation, allowing you to lay back and let the music take you away.
Check out Markus Mehr’s website to find out more!
