The Hum

Album review

English composer Ben Chatwin conceptualized his album The Hum around the hidden frequencies and nearly inaudible sounds present in any environment, but particularly electrically powered ones such as houses and recording studios. Mixing and mastering the entire album with analogue equipment rather than computers, he aimed to capture a different, more physical form of energy than he did on his previous works. Apart from the presence of rhapsodic strings on several tracks, The Hum sounds more electronic-based than more fully orchestrated Chatwin albums like Heat & Entropy and Staccato Signals, with rougher, grittier synth textures as well as pulsating beats, perhaps influenced by some of the remixes on 2019's Altered Signals. On "Transistor," he starts with a rich, buzzing synth tone and matches its tension with slow, post-industrial pounding and dark, synthwave-ish melodies. "Creep Strain"'s gorgeous rush of strings is overtaken by bristling distortion and choppy IDM-style beats, and "Snow Crash" is a more dramatic wash of static waves and mournful violins, gradually building up to an overpowering climax which seems to be accompanied by a ghostly choir. Later pieces like the brief, shifting "Interference" and the title track certainly feature scrambled voices, perhaps lost black box transmissions, in the mix. The concluding "Ghost in the Machine" emerges with a much clearer, more sparkling melody, and while it's far less distorted than the other tracks, it's just as emotionally stirring. By changing up his techniques and methods, Chatwin has produced something stranger and more otherworldly than his past work, yet equally fascinating.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo