Murmurations

A murmuration is the sudden occurrence of an audible event or a low, continuous, indistinct sound. Apparently, also a flock of starlings. All of which seem appropriate because Murmurations is also the latest album from Urthona and The Asterism.

Neil Mortimer, the self-confessed camera-shy (I am working on that) half of the duo, explained to me that the music is to do with heavy rural and strangling guitars, flocks of starlings and the Somerset levels - or something like that … I think! To be frank, I cannot remember precisely every word he said but I am sure my account hits the essence. Neil is very passionate about his music and it shows when he talks about it.

I liked the album a lot and think that it is more about making love to a guitar, even if Neil won’t admit to it. In a strange sense (a very strange sense), Murmurations is a distant cousin of Anton Webern’s work, although I cannot explain coherently, let alone eloquently, why. The way, in which an atmosphere is conceptualised in Murmurations, hits the zeitgeist.

This may not be music as you know it. Perhaps not even music as you like it: I played the album during a photo session this morning and my client threatened to leave. My fault – play the music of Urthona and The Asterism in the background and it is unforgiving. Sit and listen properly and you will discover shimmering facets of beauty. I find Murmurations a good album to meditate to or to just let my mind dangle and journey to strange and secret places.

The album is out now. It comes in an environmentally friendly sleeve (100% post-consumer recycled board, vegetable based inks – I like that! – produced by the talented people at Kennet Print) with artwork from the unique Catharyne Ward.

Now go buy the album, either from Urthona’s website or from the Strange Attractor Shoppe, which celebrates unpopular culture, declares war on mediocrity and a pox on the foot soldiers of stupidity (their words). The album is also available from (some) good record shops.