Mare Di Dirac — Tupilaq

Mare Di Dirac are a bone chilling Italian collective who summon up a  lo-fi, morbid, and sometimes ritual based sound. The project started in 2011 as a two piece, but for this release there are three key members, as well as two guest members. Tupilaq is the projects first full length CD release, after a mini CDR & a full length CDR.

Their work blends  together elements of chanted voices, subtle electronics, a selection of creepy, dirge based & often angular instrumental/ percussion detail, taking in:  didgeridoo,  piano drones, Shruti box,  gong, soprano sax, waterphone, and contrabass. With elements of field recordings, & natural ‘n’ creepy reverb added in from time to time. I guess you'd say sound wise it somewhere between murky improv, dark ‘n’ noisy ritual ambince, primal avant jazz, and wonky very grim modern classical- with the whole thing having a very murky & sinister vibe to it.

The CD features five tracks in all, and these last between just under four minutes, and fourteen minutes a piece. Each of the tracks is dank, grimly atmospheric, yet often very taut in it’s unfold- giving one the feeling that something very nasty & noisy could suddenly jump out at any moment, but for the most part the tracks stay  pared back yet tense in their unfold. Each track is fairly eventful & wavering in it’s runtime, yet each follows a fairly similar feeling of wonky & taut ritual-ness.

So if your after something that’s pitch black & doomy in mood, yet noisily pared back, and more than a little wonky & off-kilter in its grimly atmospheric unfold Tupilaq is worthy of your time.