What does the modern world sound like? The question evokes numerous answers; blaring car speakers, engine motors, loud cellphone conversations, nightclub noise and the like. To the extent that KMRU incorporates surface-level sounds in his music, such as on 2020’s Peel, they tend to capture more intimate sounds and nature recordings. However, his latest album Natur captures this environment in a different sense, focusing on the hidden symphonies underlining the hustle and bustle of urban life.
The record opens with a dense sea of glitchy static, calling to mind the sorts of frequencies that can be harnessed when operating a shortwave radio near electrical appliances such as computers and mobile phones. While radio static has long been incorporated in experimental music, it is often used in a chance-determined context, notably by John Cage. In the context of Natur, the static has a clear narrative, speaking to the deeper sonic language pulsating through the networks of communication and transportation that make modern life possible.
When the static subsides and chirping nature recordings come into the foreground, the result feels less like a reprieve from the storm of noise and more like a stream emerging from its waters. The piece metamorphosizes into sticky, almost dublike sounds, building a palpable sense of tension along the way before settling into an ominous drone. The drone persists long enough that it shifts from simply setting the mood to taking on an almost psychoacoustic effect, which, like the usage of electromagnetic frequencies, calls attention to the wider sonic elements that can be understood through deeper listening. All the while, noisy static textures continue to weave around the music until, towards the end of the piece, they move to the foreground, overtaking everything else.
Much of the piece could be heard as an interrogation of nature and technology, far from an uncommon theme in experimental music. Natur stands out in that it is less about the conflict between the two and more about their mutual evolution. Nature and technology are not dueling forces to place against each other, but a continuum that needs to be reckoned with. This is not to say the music recognizes nature and technology as one in the same, or that there isn’t any tension between the different elements. Rather, KMRU seems to understand nature and technology as a duality comparable to music and noise. The two are inextricably linked, and their differences lie more in individual perception than anything else. The first step towards understanding their dualism is listening.
