An impressive suite merging technological and natural mysticisms.
A trio of debut scapes by Uhushuhu, a project sprung from a Russian arts collective known as Utrovortu, these Long Songs Pleasant for Hearing are twenty-four, eighteen and ten minutes long, respectively. Uhushuhu is the sound of the call of the owl, according to persecuted Soviet-era sound poet Daniil Kharms.
The woodsy reference is apposite on “Surface,” which, though pleasant for hearing indeed—the main motif swaying gently like weeping willows in the breeze, just touching the surface of a quietly running river—has a rough hewn quality, as if produced in a shack deep in the forest with home-built equipment pieces not screwed together solidly, things rattle, ambient radio waves impinge. Though titled “Underwater,” the second track seems to have been recorded in the midst of a great industrial site, the machinery groaning and vents letting off steam, and the radio is now picking up ghost voices.
More drone than the previous pieces, more grind, in fact, but still maintaining the same spooky lilt and unable to adjust away the radio interference, “Underground” reflects its name well, a grit-encrusted, chthonic fanfare for the ex-gods of all religions to cavort to an orchestra that cannot tune up.
An impressive suite merging technological and natural mysticisms.
Long Songs Pleasant for Hearing is available on Zhelezobeton.
