Search - Monolake :: Silence

Zenad Jarrar

Zenad M. Jarrar | Charlottesville, VA USA | 04/19/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A common misconception people make, as far as electronic music is concerned, is believing that technology was invented in the 20th century. Technology refers to the usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and it has been around since the beginning of time. Music and technology have always been related. Monolake is an electronic music act based in Berlin. It originally consisted of Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles, but is now mostly maintained by Henke. Henke is a sound engineer, composer, software developer and performer. His music has roots in academic sound research as well as club culture. In one of his latest albums, Silence, Henke combines Pierre Schaefer's "Musique Concrete" and Herbert Eimert's "Electronische Musik." He uses electronics and technology to record naturally occurring sounds and then manipulates them. Henke also utilizes technology to amplify traditional musical instruments and uses synthesis to create rich timbres.

When I first listened to Infinite Snow, dub music came to mind, especially Mad Professor's Blunt Dub. This association was the result of the emphasis on drum and bass throughout the song, as well as the implementation of techniques such as the dynamic addition of extensive echo, reverb, and panoramic delay. I especially liked the perpetual tension between the ambient textures in the background and the beats in the foreground. The rich ambient timbres create a fluid, soothing environment that allows the listener to live through another state of consciousness while the beats in the foreground constantly snap the listener back to reality. This can only be appreciated by listener's whose ears are sensitive to the different characteristics of the piece and who are able to allow the music to evoke an atmospheric and visual quality. Envelope shaping might have been used in order to give the sounds slowly rising attacks rather than abrupt, instantaneous ones. Envelope shaping is a result of amplitude modulation, and it determines how a sound begins, continues, and ends. In Silence, Henke uses sound sources including field recordings of airport announcements, hammering on metal plates at the former Kabelwerk Oberspree, Berlin, several sounds captured inside the large radio antenna dome at Teufelsberg, Berlin, dripping water at the Botanical Garden Florence, air condition systems and turbines in Las Vegas, Frankfurt, and Tokyo, walking on rocks in Joshua Tree National Park, wind from the Grand Canyon, a friends answering machine, a printer, conversations via mobile phones, typing on an old Macintosh keyboard and recordings from tunnel works in Switzerland.

Monolake's music is deeply rooted in the history of computer music in that it includes the application of new technologies in composition, such as sound synthesis, digital signal processing, and acoustics. "Silence is such a great concept. There is no silence, unless in a vacuum, it's that great mystic world which cannot exist in our world." The ambiguity of the title allows a very subjective interpretation of the meaning and it is up to the listeners and their associations to make sense of it. There is room for all sorts of connections and connotations. To me, the title is very paradoxical. The music is clearly an example of what Luigi Russolo called "The Art of Noise." This concept is highly characteristic of a world where machinery prevents silence. The constant battle between the fluid ambient textures and the beats call for the need to pursue simplicity in life every once in a while."

Get ready to get in your head

Christopher Ryan | 03/15/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Cold, desolate, ominous, and industrial, Silence, the latest by Monolake invokes a sense of being alone or, at best, an outsider in a foreign realm. The clinking and clanging of metal, the whipping winds, the dripping water, the pounding all seem better related to a group of malevolent machines than a human. The noises present in the music, not from nature or the traditional comforts of the personal norm mean less ability to immediately relate. This does not mean, however, that it is by any means irrelevant. In fact, the album takes a journey in to the mind where the loneliness, fear, doubt, and confusion lurks. The strangeness soon becomes something with which the listener can identify.

Anecdotally, the album progresses in the following manner: I am alone in an unfamiliar place in an environment that I soon find intimidating. I run for what seems like forever only to journey further in to this unfamiliar and frightening world. I find quick respite in "Void" and gain new hope. As I continue it seems my efforts to escape the environment futile and I regress to my original state, realizing, yet not coming to terms with the inability to connect and the possibility of living only within my own conscious.

One problem I have with the album is a lack of variety. I am biased in the sense that I love variation and variety, but there is a thin line between having an overall theme in an album and creating multiple pieces that sound too similar. It is in that regard that the album loses stock and loses its ability to be enjoyed multiple times. Certain songs, such as "Void" which is a refreshing refrain from the other darker tracks and "Internal Clock" and "Shutdown" shake things up a bit. Aside from those, only the most discerning ear can distinguish between some of the tracks. In this way at points the album listened to as a whole seems less like a journey and more like stagnant progress, which could very well be the point but does not work personally for me.

Another issue that I have with the album is the overall lack of change in frequency of sounds. Most songs are comprised of lower, metallic, and flatter sounds, although it is not always the case. This technique is good for the industrial sound of the music and granted the sounds used often go well with the mood of the album, but personally it does not create music that is aurally pleasing.

Overall, the album is well- made; it is dark and strange, almost threatening at times. It definitely warrants a level of introspection from the listener, one that I assume for most would not be pleasing unless the unknown and a journey in to the more lonesome depths of your brain is something you relish. Silence does have an excellently crafted theme which leads to the thoughts of the listener, but that is partially its downfall; more variety could create a more dynamic journey. If I could change this album I would cut a few of the redundant songs to add some variety, and possibly add some more unique aspects to others. Ultimately, Silence offers a unique experience throughout the album, but it is one for which the listener needs to be prepared.

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