URAL UMBO - Ural Umbo

Ural Umbo is the musical project of Steven Hess (Fessenden, Haptic) and Reto Mäder (Sum of R, RM74, as well as the owner of Hinterzimmer Records).

Caught between pitch-black ambient, abstract noise and a dramatic chamber-music tension that seems to follow in the footsteps of the latest evolutions of Sunn O))), the musical universe painted by the two musicians is nothing short of anguished, although traces of melody keep it from descending into outright nihilism. This melody, among other things, allows us to appreciate - through a play of contrasts and shadings - the darkest, most menacing side of a sound that seems to emerge from the most hidden recesses of a troubled psyche.

The bleak hues and dramatic conflict of "Don't Eat Carrots, My Little Ghost Horse" are thus perfectly legible, even though they essentially point to something deeper, toward a pre-rational dimension. The ultimate meaning of Ural Umbo's sonic dimension lies entirely in the contrast between darkness and light: on one hand, the menacing drone stratifications of "Stumbling Upon Blood And Mercury", "Mathieu 2004-2009" or the desolate fanfare of "Förlåta Jag"; on the other, the paradisiacal glow of "Theme Of The Paranormal Feedback" and the celestial echoes of "Pendulum Impact Test".

In the middle of "Among The Bones", on the other hand, the feeling of having put on the latest Æthenor record is truly overwhelming, almost oppressive. But it's a quasi-homage that, in the end, doesn't stray too far from the coordinates of an album that's not entirely successful but at least magnetic.

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22/04/2010