Markus Mehr
Binary Rooms
Hidden Shoal Recordings

When we checked out Markus Mehr's new single, "Gymnasium/Swarms", last moonth, I found his new record to be as interesting as his former recordings. Mehr is a 'mensch machine' because this is the sound of machines, but surely done with some human touch.

Markus Mehr's been doing his special stuff for some years now. His music hisses, twists, turns, flips and curls. Mehr for sure creates and produces some magic, spellbinding moments. This is a fact on Binary Rooms, Mehr's fifth studio album, as well. He operates within the 'ambient-drone' spaces or quarters of music, and the end result is a quite spellbinding and mind-twisting musical combination. This is like Hidden Shoal describes it to be '...his most challenging and engaging to date'. Yes, this is some tough stuff, but it comes out being some really intriguing music. The opening track "Buoy" (which is not related to Danny Buoy at all) is the right place to start out, for Mehr. From the very first seconds he finds himself operating from a most electronic and electric place. This continues throughout Binary Rooms, like it is his goal to do so. The whole album is like feeling the soft pulse of some electromagnetic source or current. On top or in the shadows lurks Mehr's gentle, soft-spoken piano. The track "In The Palm Of Your Hand" is a good example. "Pedestrians", "Gymnasium/Swarms", the energetic and gently power-laden "Power Plant" and the cut'n'pasted "Blacbox" are examples of Mehr coming at you from a more extreme angle. "Living On Tape" is Mehr tricking with some spoken word-type of tracks, as he uses monologue on tape as an effect within his music. However, mind you, all his attacks and angles are most welcome. Some 42-43 minutes in Markus Mehr's company for sure is time well spent.

This album was released some two weeks before Halloween. I am sure this is a perfect combination of tricks and treats. Here's more of the '...blissful wanderlust' which is what the site Tome to the Weather Machine describes Mehr's music to be. True words. Let us close with another quote from Mehr's label, Hidden Shoal: '...Mehr acts as a fragment hunter, meshing machine-like tones with the discarded elements of humanity; narrative with anti-narrative.'.

Copyright © 2014 Håvard Oppøyen