MUfi.re — These Walls Resemble Absence

My first impression of “These Walls Resemble Absence”, suggested it might be “dark ambient”, due to the grainy black and white cover photograph within its gatefold wallet. My initial glance at this, told my brain that it was the crumpled robes of an ancient statue, carved in stone. However, these robes were soon revealed to be simply detritus, piled against a brick wall. But that first “dark ambient” impression actually holds some weight, because, despite the lack of obvious nods to that genre, MUfi.re has created nothing if not a dark ambience.

The two long tracks here, both over twenty minutes, are created out of sounds recorded in an abandoned textile factory, in northern Portugal; only using the contents of the factory itself as source material. MUfi.re has left these sounds unaltered, but layered and edited them into ominous explorations of the building. My first few listens left me thinking that it was a good concept for a work, but that the actual release itself wasn’t actually that exciting. My first listen on headphones, however, revealed a whole world of sonic construction and depth. The actual sounds on “These Walls…” are perfect for my ears: earthy scrapings and clatterings, rumbles and rusted metals, the hum of machinery, creaking doors. This reasonably limited palette is livened up on the second track, “Second”, with the addition of bell-like clangs and reverberations. The level of sonic detail and activity within these sounds is enthralling, aided and abetted by the visceral nature of their creation. Space is an important element here, too; with distant crashes playing alongside microscopic, close-up recordings. Behind these deliberate sounds, lie the ungovernable sounds of environment: dogs and birds, even humans, echo in the background and the sound of a train passing by can be heard. MUfi.re arranges all this raw material into effective, cellular constructions; with “Second” building into, and out of, a dark drone - where creaking doors take on a melodic wail.

I was very ready to dismiss “These Walls Resemble Absence”, until I plugged my headphones in - it’s one of those “rewards careful listening” albums; but the seclusion of headphones allows the whole work to be probably appreciated. Whilst first impressions suggest it to be a somewhat rigorous listen, it soon opens out into a much more forgiving beast; with little vignettes of construction appeared and disappearing. The main attraction, though, remains the sounds themselves; often beautifully detailed and textured. As I said in my introduction, the album truly pursues a dark ambience - without a heavily reverbed synth patch in sight - and even has tinges of “ritual” music, with rhythmic clanging in places. However, an interesting side-point is the relation of MUfi.re’s album to Harsh Noise Walls. Given the title, “These Walls Resemble Absence”, and the overly textural nature and quality of the sounds; its almost a wildly left-field attempt at an acoustic wall.