Under Tangled Silence is a lost album that has been found, a reconstructed work made whole from fragments. Born in pain, the collection is a triumph of Djrum’s musicality and his tireless effort to revive and reimagine what was gone. An immensely absorbing and original work, an accomplishment of desire and dexterity.
Fingerwork flourishes festoon the record
What’s a guaranteed method of making something original? How about when you’re forced to re-create something you’d already made from scratch in the first place. Felix Manuel (aka Djrum) faced this unenviable dilemma with his new album. Composed during COVID lockdowns, the files for Under Tangled Silence were lost due to a catastrophic hard drive meltdown. The decision? Go right back and make the record again.
As an artist, Djrum is extremely difficult to define. The press notes pin him as a “child prodigy.” His style refuses definition. He is fundamentally a very talented musician, one who has absorbed electronic music in all its forms. The central form that percussion takes across the eleven offerings is that of broken beats. Crunched cymbals and shattered snares are tossed over the compositions, rhythms giving texture rather than being points of pivot. Instead, it is Manuel’s instrumentation and choice of tool that is at the album’s core.
Keys cascade in a “A Tune for Us.” Gentle piano ebbs are accompanied by bittersweet strings, the trill of birdsong floating. From these beginnings, a flurry of activity takes to the wing; bobbing and weaving, flights of fancy shoot in various directions in this dawn chorus. Fingerwork flourishes festoon the record, wonderful intricate melodies nesting high above the flotsam and jetsam of drums in the shimmering “Waxcap” or in the shapeshifting splendour of “Galaxy in Silence.”
Nothing is ever cluttered ::
The inner sleeve tells of the number of instruments employed. “Piano, harp, mbira, percussion – Manuel.” Yet, despite the spread of influences and sounds, nothing is ever cluttered. In fact, it is the space given to elements that draws the listener in. The subtle free flowing “Unweaving” or the tingling “Reprise” blend classic string with a whisper of the machine. That whisper turns to a full-throated shout in “L’Ancienne,” where the old world is ruffled by industrial beats. This collision of two sonic realms can lead to joyous outbursts, as in the frolicking frenzy of “Three Foxes Chasing Each Other” or the whimsey of “Let Me” as its melodic twists dodge rhythmic volleys.
However, there are also pieces where the tone is darker. The gentle notes of “Out of the Dust” are pushed to a percussive peak, a battery of reverb and ricochet tormenting the underflowing harmony. “Syncamore” closes. The longest of the collection, the bpms surge from the outset. Juddering with anxiety, Manuel forces drum patterns ever tighter before relief arrives. Watery resonance washes away the ferocity, a final calming resolve found.
Under Tangled Silence is a lost album that has been found, a reconstructed work made whole from fragments. Born in pain, the collection is a triumph of Djrum’s musicality and his tireless effort to revive and reimagine what was gone. An immensely absorbing and original work, an accomplishment of desire and dexterity.
Under Tangled Silence is available on Houndstooth. [Bandcamp]
