Markus Mehr
Hubble
Hidden Shoal Recordings

German Markus Mehr is a new acquaintance to me. His single "Hubble" is a track off his forthcoming album, Lava (out June 15th). Being an artist performing hypnotic experimental ambient music, I figured I'd check this out.

Mehr started as a guitarist. He grew up listening to Black Sabbath and AC/DC (well, who didn't...), before finding artists such as David Sylvian (been there as well), moving on to the 'bedroom', home studio and the experimental world he's in with his low noise meets slow ambience. Gliding guitars and gloomy synths, accompanied with field recordings, the sound of ventilators, electric shavers, (electric) tooth brushes! Household appliances rule! There's a lot of whizzing and buzzing going on all around the guitar lines and synth glides. The press sheet also namedrops inspiration from the electronic meditation of the cosmic 1970s' Germans Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream (I recall my teen years, here...), blended with contemporary names such as Austrian Christian Fennesz and Canadian Tim Hecker. Maybe even Jim O'Rourke's more ambient/abstract works (moods) could be mentioned.

"Hubble" is quite cool sounding, but I feel it's sort of slowly rolling from its starting point to its ending cue, without the needed nerve or temperature. Well, not that surprising since these are quite cold and dark moods and soundscapes. "Hubble" is quite delicate, but maybe also a bit too loosely spun. Nevertheless, I'll probably check out Lava when it arrives. Speaking of lava: just the right title these days, huh! Better start the album launch tour on Iceland.

Copyright © 2010 Håvard Oppøyen