THE WORLD'S OUT-OF-PLACE ARTEFACTS I

'The World's Out Of Place Artefacts I' - Senmuth (4/10)

No stranger to ambitious projects, Senmuth's 'The World's Out Of Place Artefacts I' is the first in a four part series that partially revisits new material, but also adds a bit to Senmuth's already vast expanse of existing music. A fairly brief album, 'Artefacts I' skirts the edge of merely being an EP, but the music here is decent, and even somewhat fresh for Senmuth. Steering clear of almost all electronic sound, the music relies almost exclusively on the ethnic and ambient side of the project's work, although a few heavier rocking moments can be heard as well. The end result is something that does not stand out for Senmuth, but manages to provide entertainment worth a couple of listens.

As always, ambiance is the measure of the day here; Senmuth rarely aims for a conventional approach to songwriting, instead making somewhat strange compositions that often sound awkward to Western ears. That being said, the music on 'Artefacts I' is somewhat unsettling, featuring some shrill flute work, looming bass and percussion, and even some guitar to fill out the background. Although only being a half hour in length however, the album does feel a bit too drawn out, and a start-to-finish intent listen still comes across as being somewhat difficult.

The biggest flaw that this music has (along with many Senmuth records) is the fact that the instruments are fake; virtual emulations of real life instruments. Of course- as one might imagine- it's never as good as the real thing, instead feeling a bit as if the album is a composition demo, over a finished product. However, in terms of the sounds used, there are a few new emulations that haven't been heard too much from Senmuth, especially in an ethnic context. Of these include an intriguing 'saxophone' sound that meshes in well with the typically exotic, oriental music.

'The World's Out Of Place Artefacts I' isn't any stellar introduction to this four piece collection, but it does have a much more natural and stripped down sound to it that I find quite endearing, and with a discography as vast as Senmuth's, any noticeable change is more than welcome.

The Artefatcs series is made of four albums but two of them are compilations and with now about 100 albums released by Senmuth I'm not going to review his compilations so I'll only look at Artefatcs I and II.

The whole album is made of those "ambient" tracks with powerful sounds and a slow tempo that's typical of Senmuth, but it also included passages on which I don't see much composing effort. There are some good moments here and there, and if you are not too deeply into Senmuth's music you can find it even interesting.

It's not so interesting for who as myself has listened to almost this whole huge discography.

For who doesn't know Senmuth, he started with industrial metal, electronic drones and techno influences to move quite soon to ethnic and ambient landscapes, mainly inspired by middle-eastern folk music.

Well, none of those elements is completely exploited in this album. The first track that I find quite pleasant is "Sakkarskaya bird" which comes fourth, and the reason is that the melodic line is different from the usual. It's a pity that it ends with a fadeout.

The following track features a cello, probably electronic. The soundscape is very good but the melody with the familiar "quantistic jumps" out of pitch jeopardizes it.

Apart of those two examples, I suggest listening to the tracks with an idea of what they represent:

The ICA stones are black stones of Andesite found in Peru which are told built by an alien came from Pleiades, but the farmer who sold them to a researcher later admitted to be their author, even to avoid being jailed for selling antiquities illegally.

Antikhitera mechanism is an ancient mechanical computer designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was recovered in 1900?1901 fin Germany

Haji Muhiddin, aka Piri Reis draw a map of Europe and South America few years after Columbus and with a precision that's above the possibilities of that age.

You can check all the other artefacts on Wikipedia, but they are the only thing that I have found interesting in this album, that's not bad, but doesn't bring anything new to a 100 albums discography.

Already listened.