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

Urban Eden - Building Gardens From Concrete [Midira Records - 2020]

Urban Eden is the project of the multidisciplinary artists Liz Helman and Dominic Hemy, and via the collaboration  the pair share their love of drones and subtly twisted soundscapes.

The London resident artist Liz Helman works with time-based media and tries to react to place and environment with her visual and acoustic work. She usually begins her working process with field recordings, which are then vividly designed into compositions at the base of drones. There is  only very vague information on musician Dominic Hemy . However, he has been designing soundscapes for over a decade now. And on the album, he mainly utilizers  guitars, theremins and synthesizers.


The two artists met in 2019 at a gig where they both performing at.  They quickly recognized their mutual love for drones and soundscaping,  and founded Urban Eden. The  first fruit of  the project is Building Gardens From Concrete, which was released by German label Midira Records. It contains four tracks simply named Project I - IV. These compositions are blends of field recordings, minimal drones, and fragile noise patterns.

The mysterious floating tracks are accompanied by photographs by Liz Helman, which are included in the booklet as well as digitally.  Her beautiful black and white photographs illustrate how specific urban landscapes and extensive gardens can contradict or complement each other. .The four "projects" on this album nicely harmonize with the photographs here.

All the pieces on Building Gardens From Concrete are similar in effect/ form, and try to find pure beauty in minimalism. This works particularly well with “Project III” thanks to the bright and clear sounds that are interrupted by individual gongs. The other tracks drone landscapes are initially quite cluttered and take up a lot of space. However, as soon as you discover the details within the layers, you find there is little depth/ return power here. Meaning that album as a whole rather, felt liked bare concrete itself: reduced and simplified to individual surfaces and limited textures. So in conclusion  that means that Building Gardens From Concrete is not as successful or rewarding as it's premise.

Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5

Jan Warnke
Latest Reviews

Urban Eden - Building Gardens Fr...
Urban Eden is the project of the multidisciplinary artists Liz Helman and Dominic Hemy, and via the collaboration  the pair share their l...
170424   Jan Jelinek - Social Engine...
170424   Carlos “Zíngaro”, Guilherme R...
160424   The Borderlands - The Borderl...
160424   Rien - The New Source Recording
160424   Worship - Thoughts
150424   Lion-Girl - Lion-Girl(Blu Ray)
150424   Waidelotte - Celestial Shrine
150424   Iron Monkey - Spleen & Goad
120424   Spider Labyrinth - Spider Lab...
120424   Colosseum - Elegy- The Record...
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom