Forget the collaboration between Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. You probably have forgotten already. Here’s the real dream team: [ówt krì] and Pigments. These masters of electronic sound art from Finland have come together for this work. The dream may be a nightmare if you don’t like ambient drone, sound looping, outwardly obscure concepts and dark soundscapes, but by its nature there is an element of dreaminess about it.

On the surface none of this has anything to do with reality. The nature of the sound calls to mind empty spaces. It’s what the duo fills them with that creates the intrigue and indeed the disturbance. Although we’re not dealing in physical reality or personal interaction, it is the reality of being inside someone’s head. Now that is scary. And scary is what “Release the Prey” is. The windy waves are like a mental block. Distorted neo-classical sounds swim around starkly. It’s stifling. There’s no room for clear thinking. In the background there’s a soft pulse of what may be a guitar. But all the while there’s the expanse of electronic sounds creating what the artists describe as “pulsating fear”. I know that Kenneth, the artist behind [ówt krì], builds his own instruments and here on “Inside the Swarm” there are the gentle distortions of what sounds like a harpsichord creating the imprint with a constant electronic drone swirling around uncontrollably in the background. Swarm is the word you’d associate with bees, but this is psychological pressure. Interestingly I was visualising this on a human and maybe industrial level rather than the outer-worldly experience that I’ve often had when listening to [ówt krì]. “Saturn Rising” by contrast did convey a sense of spatial airiness and floating. The minimalist sounds in the foreground are bleak. That classical-sounding drone here is intense. But that tune, if that’s what I can call it, dominates my mind with its vivid portrayal of alienation and solitude. “Saturn Rising” is a powerful and confronting piece. As physical images go, “Rainy Pavement” conjures up a clear mental thread. As for the musical interpretation, the sound waves continue but now dark piano tones create melancholy, and an air of uncertainty and even tragedy. I guess the rainy pavement is that image of looking out of a window at a glistening street with not a soul on it as the rain continues to pour. The scene is unspeakably sad, and thanks to the pulsating sound waves, escape is not possible as we are in a continuum.

Sticking with the titular theme of precipitation, “A Rising Monsoon” follows. The distorted tones of what sounds like a dulcimer could signal irregular rainfall. More sound waves blow through the sky and infiltrate it with menace. Mystery flows through this experimental, but highly charged piece. “Fractured Lore” is, in spite of its abstract nature, is a mobile album, and whilst it couldn’t be said that “The Queen’s Feast” flows like a river, its electronic tones and sweeping waves progress like an enigmatic story. “Exposed, raw anguish” is the description put to “The Jester’s Tears”. My take on this is that “The Jester’s Tears” conveys a bleak and barren landscape. I detected hostility here. It is less forward than its predecessors. We can all have our interpretations but what this duo achieve here and elsewhere is the transference of images, prompted by this strange and wondrous music. The periodic rises are haunting and signal that anguish of which they speak amidst a grey backdrop. This is quite different. But then so is the whole experience. It ends with “Bellowed Death”. The dark and droning sounds swim round inside our minds, or maybe take us to another outer-worldly place. We can choose, but the experience is all-embracing and overwhelming.

Abstract and mysterious, “Fractured Lore” nevertheless paints vivid and strong pictures. The dream duo pull no punches in capturing a range of soft and harsh images, each with the accompaniment of windswept soundscapes which swirl around in our mind and present intriguing but disturbing psychological states.

(8.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

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