With Streams of Forms, Marlais stitches together traditional folk and ambient electronica in ways that are bold, hypnotizing and ground-breaking.
With the piece entitled ‘Marlais Awakes From His Slumber,’ Stream of Forms begins with a rather bleak, wordless drone of an intro, as if this song collection can only breathe itself into life after it has slowly emerged from the confines of some grey, industrial, faceless landscape. If anything, it reminds me a little of the late seventies-period-David-Bowie when he made his Berlin trilogy of albums, so it is not entirely surprising to learn that the ark of this project has developed from the artist’s experiences of living, working and performing in that very city. And like those celebrated works, this too invites repeated listens before the finer rewards awaiting the listener within these grooves can be fully appreciated, but they are certainly there ready and waiting when you do.
It has taken around five years to work into a final form, settling into a fascinating presentation in which the artist is the narrator of a collection that stitches together traditional folk and ambient electronica in ground-breaking ways. Take the third song as a key example; ‘Out Of The Window’ is instantly familiar to all as it is a stark re-imagining of the traditional tune ‘She Moved Through The Fair.’ I would not have bet too strongly that turning that piece into a serene, modernist hymn would have had any hope of success but somehow, thanks to the sincerity of Marlais’ vocal performance and the gentle touch of the sound, the effect is superb.
Marlais is the name of this musical vehicle for Michael Culme-Seymour. Based in Berlin, he initially gained attention on Soundcloud with remixes of Alt-j and instrumental mixes that sampled from the folk world. His debut EP, ‘Dreams Of Jarvis,’ took its germination from Dylan Thomas folk-worlds and Seymour would then adopt the stage name Marlais from Thomas’s own middle name. His first album ‘Warm At Last’ arrived in 2016 and this was where his initial experiments in merging traditional songs of Britain and Ireland with electronic soundscapes appear. With ‘Stream Of Forms,’ the idea has been allowed the space and time to properly develop into something both innovative and reassuringly familiar.
The best example of Marlais’ melting pot is perhaps on the penultimate track ‘Blackwater Side,’ which is manipulated into a near-eight-minute epic. It begins with voice and harmonium, but Marlais has found enough room in the basic structure to throw in various movements including hypnotic pipe sounds and haunting, extended drone segments. All rather bold and hypnotising for sure and they pave the way to a suitably enigmatic conclusion.
Having already paused, on his journey through love in its many motions, to declare that ‘Marlais Is Lost’ and ‘Marlais Sits, Does Nothing, Hears A Voice,’ we leave him as ‘Marlais Meets The Argonauts.’ It hints at bolder, more profound trips from this alchemist still to come. On this form, it will be worth keeping an ear out for a taste of whatever this outside-the-box sonic chef cooks up next.
Stream of Forms is out now. Order via Bandcamp: https://treibenderteppichrecords.bandcamp.com/album/stream-of-forms