Jana Irmert — What Happens At Night

Jana Irmert is a sound artist and composer based in Berlin. What Happens At Night is her fourth and latest album, which finds her sonically stepping into traditional eerie ambience, with darts into darker cinematic-like scoring.

As we venture into this four-track album, sounds are pumping out with power and clarity, emerging from the depths of the conscious in order to shape form and identity- very much a sonic apocalyptic process. We have some thick and vibrating layers of sound, unleashing their distinct qualities forward, but also, some darker and softer ones, that are calibrating into the whole thing with precision. This distinctive duality is apparent and characteristic. 

One can easily observe some elements that resemble classic ambience, for example, Kitaro like moments, but this is only a passing comparison. The ethereal elements are contradicting and confront the powerful ones and instantly merging into one solid stream of relentless sonic charge. There’s a bridge connecting traditional ambient sound with more contemporary examples of the genre, the later employing more variable elements. 

Synthesis is at its peak, with the whole thing touched by this throughout What Happens At Night is all about coming claustrophobia, or an anticipation of something terrible will happen. Agitation, fortified by a warning or commentary of an eco-obliteration, the concept of the album poses a vital (in the whole extent of the term) question about the future of mankind in these bleak and unforgiving times of degradation. Sonic references of nature being crushed by verbal electronic hammering, expressing that conflict with utmost detail. 

One can really feel the tension this album creates and describes, the agony, the frustration and the unforeseen consequences of earth’s demise. A task taken and executed with beauty, sonic plurality, with vast evolving soundscapes and a polished production on top. Very well done! Grab your copy from here.