Kreng — Wormhole

Immersing himself in the scoring of film and theater, Kreng has gone over a decade without releasing a personal album, but has come back to Miasmah to drop his latest, Wormhole. His time spent building cinematic tension and atmosphere is carried over wholesale for this work, as the album is rich with feeling, texture, and storytelling, the music guiding the listener on an unexpected and gorgeous journey. Dramatic and daring, Wormhole provides vivid, sonic imagery and a road map for the listener to take an interstellar trip into the unknown, as well as into the inner depths of their own psyche.

Whether one decides to head inward or outward, Wormhole builds an evocative atmosphere where drones are emphasized with strings, horns, keys, and varied cinematic effects to deliver tension, relief, dread, joy, and everything in between. From "You Are Here" to "Gymnopedie," Kreng establishes mood, creates conflict, and brings the album to a resolution with skill and artistry. As mentioned above, his soundtrack work is on full display here, but the companion visuals are left up to the listener, who should have no problem creating the complement to this full and wonderfully arranged composition. Kreng uses common instruments and cinematic tropes on Wormhole, but they're used sparingly, just enough to provide familiarity along with the tension/relief/release/etc. Stray piano notes float over mystical, swirling lows in a haunting manner. Strings weave in and out like a lurker in the bushes peering into the window on a dark night. Kreng's composition, while a great guide, still allows plenty of leeway for the listener to veer into their own narrative, and in fact, that is definitely recommended. While each experience will vary, to me, this brought me straight into a horror or giallo film. The dark, moody shadows envelop the scene with the keys or strings adding direction and color; the glint of a knife blade in the moonlight or the rushing of a camera up to an unsuspecting victim just outside of the streetlight's embrace. Wormhole is a fantastic sum of its parts, engaging, evocative, and moody, but, as cliche as it sounds, one big thing that makes the album what it is is what it is not: overdone. The deft subtlety with which the album is constructed expresses everything it needs to with just enough to get it done, leaving the listener with the onus of creating the narrative, scenery, inward voyage, whatever. That's not to say this is minimal, far from it. It's full and fantastic, but not heavy handed or cloying, Kreng knows what he wants to do and delivers.

Wormhole is a non-soundtrack soundtrack, fitting perfectly to something that doesn't exist, a personal story without any words. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a song is worth a thousand pictures. Kreng expertly crafts his work to give the listener all the pictures they need to craft their story, and yet, they're all blank so that each individual can go in a direction all their own. His sonic metaphors are leagues better than my written ones above, so just check out Wormhole and revel in its beauty.