Nature

Senmuth has become well known and well established in the underground experimental/tribal/ethno scene quite recently due to the massive amount of material this guy puts out like locusts. While most people stick to his more organized and known works such as 2009's "Neocortex" or his original 2004 "Cognitive Discord" mostly due to the fact that with such a gigantic discography, which is still growing almost in a two month interval, there is little to no perspective to explore the works of Senmuth thoroughly. It has become a task to collectionists and people interested in projects like this to filter out the really amazing good work and criticize the more generic outlets being enlisted on various discography sites. With such a vast collection, one would normally not know where to start, but in his case, it doesn't matter, since his albums might differ more or less, but the typical Senmuth trademark is always there. Fusing too many styles together widens the rift between followings, while at the same time draws attention and interest, but as aforementioned it is near impossible to get deep insight into each and every album that is presented, so let's have a look at 2007's "Nature".

With a very simple, yet ambiguous name such as "Nature", Senmuth prepares for an exploration through a new concept, trying to capture his feelings on a "visit to Dombai" as he puts it. After listening to his "Morning Depth of the Sunlight & the Emptiness Inside Reason", which was an exploration in acoustic, this album was the next on my list. It offers the mix between techno and doom, which is one of the styles Senmuth adheres to most often, fusing it with a lot of ethnic influence, depending on where his natural interests or impressions left him. On most albums he manages this concept well, stressing the fact that he can not work too long on a certain theme or idea, or it bores him. Well, "Nature" might be a step toward the classical style I've been listening for about 20 albums, but still to this point "Nature" seems to be one of his weakest endeavours until now. It's hard to distinguish the mass of music after only listening to max. two times to each album, but the sound and composition on "Nature" feels generic and leaves a lot of room for the "filler disease" that most artists succumb to at one point or the other. Many melodies such as the reoccurring theme in "Alibek Falls" resemble cheerful folkish sounding tunes, that create a "tourist" type of atmosphere, quite similar to the impression the artist might have had on his journey. "Alania", however, is a very well done and strong piece, using accordion tunes, much like his very early work and other classics, such as "Syn Kamnya" on the Neocortex release. These playful, yet rhythmic tones create a wonderful atmosphere and a great insight of the creator's mood when writing this. While techno and industrial sounding influences overlap each other in Senmuth's music, the industrial parts dominate this release more, even though some parts of this album are dull and unpolished and act as filler material, i.e. "Crystal Water of the Ice Stream", which is a soft jingle with some electric drums in the background and featuring an annoying sound of changing chords on an electric guitar. "Singing of birds under Stars" features more of this jingle-jangle, but progresses in more mature way, yet hardly reaching any climax or inducing any at all energy. It's more like a very gentle and harmless background elevator music.

What can be said in summary about this album is that it's strange, like most (if not all) Senmuth albums, combining a lot of elements out of many genres, a form of modern Russian avant-garde, if you wish. Yet sadly, this album is too inoffensive and bland, with only a few highlights to stand out and represent Senmuth's true potential.

(written for TMO and the metal archives on 3.02.2010)