I first listened to this album when I was just awake. I must confess that the music did not really catch my attention while reading the newspaper with my morning coffee. The music is minimal and stays somewhere in the background. But now that I listen to it again more closely, with the volume turned up, its effect is increasing steadily. This is the second album already by BSE, a project shared by Drakhon (MZ 412) and musician/scientist K. Meizter. The trilogy which “Urmula” is the second part of deals with the correlation between numbers, music and life. In the nice digipack interesting illustrations can be found, amongst others dealing with ‘The science of myth’. The final chapter in the BSE 2003 Trilogy, “Ratan”, has already been recorded and will be released in December.
“Urmula” again treats us to tranquil ambient soundscapes. A dark atmosphere, but subtle and not too dominant. A track like ‘Arbogast’ has nice orchestral elements, like heavy threatening horns and calm classical melodies. Another highlight is ‘The two-trace problem’, with subdued layers of sound and ungoing drones of acoustic instruments (cello?). It has something ominous. The title track has the most rhythmic elements, but they have an unpredicatable structure, and the bare beats are washed away by thick layers of sound. The last track ‘Curtains’ again has the brooding horns of ‘Arbogast’, and closes the album in a deep impressive manner. All tracks sound restrained, building up tension, if uncontrolled emotions are controlled by scientific ratio. “Urmula” can have a ritual, meditative effect, when listening carefully, preferably with headphones.
