Maelström
Helix, 2021
8/10
There’s plenty of music out there you could call metal, but David Bausseron’s Murmur Metal project is quite literally a metal delivery. After finding some raw materials in a dumpster at a factory back in 2010, Bausseron added to his arsenal of iconoclastic noise makers, and here he uses rods, a tin box, cage, halogen lamp base and many other metallic objects alongside electric guitar and electronics.
“I” starts the listen with 18+ minutes of ominous, eerie metal tinkering meets dense waves of nearly mechanical sounds that seems like it could soundtrack life on a deserted planet with high winds. Interestingly enough, it almost has the appeal of a field recording, but with a sci-fi sort of slant.
The middle track, “II”, is the shortest track, and In under 5 minutes resembles a swarm of insects or perhaps turbines moving wind that can be ambient, even relaxing, in its experimental, perplexing nature.
The final track, “III”, spends 25 minutes mesmerizing us with minimal moments of bare manipulation, aberrant gestures and fumbling with random objects as a rare and certainly unusual charm is built from the unorthodox vision that drones, clangs and hypnotizes.
An artist who has turned dumpster diving into a highly refined art form, it’s quite clear a tremendous amount of work went into this record, and the improvisational skills are unparalleled. For those tired of the mundane, Murmur Metal is an adventure worth taking repeatedly.
Travels well with: Philip Blackburn- Justinian Intonations; David Dunn- Verdant