Dieter Müh & Mnem - Atomyriades

On Atomyriades, David Uden acting alone as Dieter Müh, reworks source material supplied by the Finnish duo, Mnem. Mnem, from what I can gleam, deal with post-industrial, electro-acoustic and harsh ambience, so they're a good fit to receive manipulation from Dieter Müh. Dieter Müh are well-known, at least here at compulsion online, for dark atmospherics and analogue electronics which pick up on old-school post-industrial sounds and Atomyriades doesn't disappoint.

Dieter Müh tackle Atomyriades with care and a subtlety of approach with great attention focussed on even the minutest detail. It is, at least superficially, largely a drone based work but it's filled with industrial debris and organic sound sources such as singing bowls, jaws harps and Moroccan flute. With its layers of groaning electronics and shuffling effected drum patterns the opening track, 'Galan Taetri', is frankly misleading. It's when Dieter Muh slow things right down it get interesting. 'Voljan Nal' sets creaky, squeaky effects, and the metallic ringing of Tibetan singing bowls to muffled, straining drones. The faint waves of ebbing blurry atmo-wash that comprise 'Mundi Salvatorr' create a disturbing hypnotic feel offset by spurts of industrialised noise. The best moment is 'Nine Many' that takes the blurry twang of the jaws harp and the sound vibrations of the Tibetan singing bowls into ritual territory, with only a bass pulse to anchor the sound. The following track, 'Marazion Sand', returns to electronic droning but gets far more explosive towards the end where crackling textures meet with surging and ripping sounds cleverly careering between speakers before closing on the distorted analogue electronic chug of 'The Return Line'.

Atomyriades more than adequately illustrates the calibre of material Dieter Müh can produce. To get the full effect of Atomyriades you really need to listen on headphones but even if you don't it's still a solid release from Dieter Müh, who remain sorely under exposed. Atomyriades is released in an edition of 500 copies. For more information go to iheartnoise.com/cipherproductions