Markus Mehr "On" – Clicky Clicky Music

On is Mr. Mehr’s third record working under his own name; it is filled with immaculately constructed instrumentals, appointed with imaginative instrumentation and illuminating samples, that are as soothing as they are transporting. While much non-“pop” electronic music is rooted firmly in repetition, Mehr impresses with his ability to proffer a different approach to his craft with each song here. Lead single “Flaming Youth” doesn’t develop dramatically, with its buzzing stereo entrance and a locked-groove horn sample instead steadily exhaling and inhaling across seven minutes. The intro evokes the summertime sounds of a busy bug zapper, before settling into a lush and beautiful motif that recalls the Canadian-metropolitan beauty of certain Broken Social Scene instrumentals. The real gems of On are the one-two punch at the close of the record. The aptly titled “Monks On The Beach” presents an ethereal chant smothered with static and multiple tracks of childish conversation tied together with a subtle, distorted bass guitar pulse. The song builds to the massive finale “Tunnels,” itself a gradually swelling behemoth. Chirping phasing sounds give way to a persistent three-chord piano figure that suddenly yields to a series of gargantuan distorted piano slams. With each strike Mehr subtly tweaks the fuzz with flanges and clipping until the tempo climaxes and the song implodes. Like a lot of the best artists within this genre attracting wider audiences (Fennesz, Eluvium and the great William Basinski to name a few), Mehr is able to infuse his art with cool effortlessness and power sufficient to hold a mirror to the listener’s soul with a series of patient epiphanies.

Clicky Clicky Music