‘Mormor’ is the latest release from
Germany’s prolific Tarkatak and arrives courtesy of Genesungswerk,
in a handprinted cardboard box, limited to 300 copies. Tarkatak
is a seasoned purveyor of haunting yet ethereal dark ambience
yet he brings compositions to life with a host of electronic and
electro-acoustic elements.
The opener ‘foerfaeder’ starts off with what sounds
like machines rising from their slumber in a blustery and murky
wasteland. Ambient drone music can too easily seep into the background
but Tarkatak employs a keen sense of arrangement which creates
a disturbing and visual soundscape. After 12 minutes, subtle ebbing
electronic pulses appear on top of the now ‘taken for granted’
deep rumbling ambient soundscape. The layers proceed to grow and
sub-melodies start to skitter around each other to create a thick
sonic waft of hypnotic, bubbling deep water ambience which recalls
the micro-dubtech of artists like ‘System’ and ‘Hong
Kong’ era ‘Monolake’.
Track 2, the 15 minute ‘hav-intet amande’ starts with
wonderfully arranged effervescent bleeps and gradually emergent
dark ambient tones which creates an eerie, almost X-Files-ish
soundscape, if the theme tune were conducted by the likes of Senking
or Mika Vaino. Muffled voices, atmospheric drones and deep bass
movements roll in to take centre stage and whilst these elements
add a cinematic touch, their prolonged appearance can drag. Captive
listeners however will still be in deep hypnosis due to the throbbing
Lustmord-esque bass and drone which paints a sonic picture of
the erratic and powerful Martian weather-system.
Title track ‘Mormor’ oozes forward with what seems
like a perpetual hazy static which attempts to explore a variety
of distant and abruptly ending acoustic and electronic sounds
and effects. Several minutes in and a tangible and driving electro
sound arrives which brings with it a playful and luscious skittering
beat, sparkling hollow melodies, oscillating drones and icy female
vocals. The sound then decays into wafting layers of static and
industrial scrapage until melodic tones attempt a comeback and
manage to intermittently filter through towards the end.
The album closes with ‘Foerklinga’, a triumph of heavily
processed and recurring melodies which are celebrating after having
eschewed the shackles of the foreboding dark droneage. Clouds
of sonic industrial-waste start to appear mid-way through and
the musical elements undergo unsystematic tempo adjustments to
create an uneasy sense of tension before the thick slab of droneage
takes over and peters out.
‘Mormor’ is an thoroughly engaging, elaborately processed
and densely layered amalgamation of dark ambient drones, industrial
static, electro-acoustic spaces and faint micro-electronica. The
latter elements are engaged in a constant struggle to emerge out
of the almost impenetrable cloud of drone, but they do, and the
result is as glorious as when sun-rays manage to scorch your eyes
on a gloomy and cloudy day. As always, ‘Mormor’ requires
to be listened too in one go and whilst fully captive, so find
60minutes and drift into a animated dreamland where melody and
sonic-decay are engaged in a power-struggle.
For fans of: Lustmord, Scorn, Robert Rich, Monolake
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