Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Mountain Black - Closing In [Moozak - 2013]

“Closing In” mixers together environmental field recordings, found sounds/other field recordings, and drone to electro morphed abstracted instrumentation to create an a atmospheric work that moves from chillingly hypnotic & sometime angular sound-tracking, onto soothingly naturalistic(with often a subtle undercurrent of dread), and suddenly nightmarishly jarring texturing.

This CD release is the debut release from Mountain Black, which is the solo project of Australian sound artist, sound recordist( working on films with such a mixed subject matter as Polish thriller Acts of God, & Australian  trans-gender school teacher Documentary T Is for Teacher), artists & designer Martin Kay.

The CD conists of ten separate tracks in all, which last between just under a minute to just over the twelve & a half minute mark. But in reality this release functions best as one long shifting trip, instead of a selection of individual  stand alone tracks.

The album opens with a mixture of whistling wind texture, minipulated and muffled nature based field recordings. With-in a minute or so we’ve moved into layered 'n' noisy modified crowd records, and morphed 'n' simmering electro cut textural rises, before we drift back into more subtle & drifting recordings of what sounds like a child chattering in a tunnel.

From here onwards the album effectively drifts from stripped nature based field recordings (sometimes subtle undercut by drone texture) of water, insects, birds, rain, fire crackle etc. Onto muffled & morphed masses of other field recording/ found sound texturing, which are mixed with drone set or electro morphed abstract instrumentation. Over to sudden/fleeting dense, & at times quite noisy risers that have a very unsettling/ psychiatrically unwell feel about them. Through-out the album nicely seesaws between dense dwells & more stripped down texturing.

“Closing In” is an effective & captivating sound journey that shifts from the subtle, to the more cyptic & dense sound-making….but there's always an unsettling or dread filled vibe to it’s moody cinematic sound art settings. I look forward to hearing what Kay & this project do in the future

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Mountain Black - Closing In
“Closing In” mixers together environmental field recordings, found sounds/other field recordings, and drone to electro morphed abstracted instrumentation...
090326   My Sister’s Bones - My Sis...
090326   Steven Halpern - Music for ...
080326   Wan Pipel - Wan Pipel(Blu Ray)
060326   Whore’s Breath & Hana Harun...
060326   SLOWGURN - Tendrils
060326   Night Of The Rats - Night Of ...
050326   The Ugly Stepsister(UHD/ Blu ...
050326   István Szabó: Mephisto / Co...
050326   Fade To Black - Fade To Black...
050326   Westen Grey - After Hours I
Latest Articles

Cliff Twemlow On Severin - Mancun...
One of last year’s real big surprises in the world of Blu-ray box sets was Bloody Legend: The Complete Twemlow Collection, as it was a wholly entertain...
030326   Cliff Twemlow On Severin - Ma...
260226   The Fall - Repetitious Histor...
290126   Crude ‘n’ Hope-corroding ...
231225   Creepy Images Books - Killer Art
221225   Best Of 2025 - Music, Sound &...
041225   The Spectral Sounds of The Pr...
281025   Michael Hurst Interview - Unb...
071025   Xiphos - The Rise And Fall Of...
030925   Third Window Films - A Label ...
130825   HNW fest- Barcelona- 12th Apr...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom