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 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
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