CHAMBERS

'Chambers' - Senmuth (4/10)

While Senmuth has certainly grasped my imagination and attention even with some of his beautiful ambient work, it's unavoidable that some of many, many albums will turn out to be flops. Such may the case in Senmuth's dark ambient work 'Chambers,' a sprawling concept piece revolving around a handful of historical figures the man behind the music of Senmuth has obviously studied. Be sure to find a much darker tone here than usual for this project's music; Senmuth has rarely sounded so unsettling and morose. However, the unnerving vibe of the album aside, the fact remains that despite giving an atmosphere, very little else occurs here of mention, and as a result the album tends to be quite boring.

While this album 'Chambers' could certainly be seen as enjoyable if taken from the perfect perspective, it feels like there just ins't enough actually going on with the music to be worth an intent trip. A lack of melodic structure or conventional form is inherent in ambient music, but even listening to 'Chambers' simply for the sake of relaxation, there are very few discernible sounds and memorable qualities to make Senmuth's music really soar here.The dark feeling here resounds throughout, but the fact that the vibe remains the same throughout somewhat desensitizes the listener to the feeling after a ways into the work.

As for the concept of historical figures, I feel a lot more could have been done in the music to reflect the distinct personalities and feats of these people. With interesting stories behind each of these names, it would have been easy to find something really particular and engaging to drive the music with. To the album's misfortune, 'Chambers' just ends up sounding like another Egyptian-themed ethno-ambient album from Senmuth, and in the case I was hoping for something more than that, I've been a bit disappointed.

Chambers has a lot of things that make for an interesting listen. The tribal percussion, ambient arrangements, and dark atmospheres are something that Senmuth has trademarked over the years, but this outing is even darker and more haunting than many other of the man's other ethno-ambient albums. This is the type of album that should immerse you, and simply allow yourself drift into the creepy ancient atmosphere that Senmuth has tried so hard to create. Although there are a few parts that are easy to lose yourself in, a good chunk of Chambers is a boring and repetitive attempt at trying to create a certain atmosphere without fully living up to its own expectations. Something here is missing - whether it is the often mediocre compositions or occasional lack of a human touch, the majority of this album doesn't exactly "grab" me like other Senmuth albums have. Unless you've heard most of the work from this prolific one-man-act, there are many better places to turn than Chambers.

The music here is self-described by Senmuth as "Ethno Ritual Dark Ambient", which is a good overall description. Although the often sterile sound can take away from an authentic experience in such a genre, it is generally portrayed rather well. The booming percussion gives of a tribal-like feeling, which is complimented by some ambient synths. The main problem in Chambers is the compositions, which often feel lifeless and uninspired. Although there are some nice moments in most of the songs, they are few and far between. Even right after an extremely focused listening session, it's difficult for me to recall more than two or three melodies from the entire album. The songwriting is simply not very memorable and not nearly as immersive as it should be. Although Senmuth does a pretty great job with the sound and arrangements here, the music that's backing it up isn't among his best. I hate to say this, but a good amount of Chambers sounds like background music to something much better.

The production is, as we're used to from Senmuth, excellent. The sound is spectacular and sounds great in every aspect. I have no complaints here.

Although Chambers isn't a terrible album, I don't think anyone aside from die-hard Senmuth fans would find much warrant here. There's some quality on this album, but the vast majority of the release falls into the "what could have been" category. I'll give Chambers 2 stars. If you're not a Senmuth veteran, I wouldn't recommend jumping into this one.

Enter the pyramid of Giza, Nathaniel Davison, British Consul at Algiers in 1763 was the first to discover the lowest of the series of five spaces (called "Construction Chambers") over the King's Chamber. Imagine Davison exploring the pyramid and discoverying the Chamber. Whenever Senmuth makes ambient music it can't be fully appreciated without knowing what he had in mind while composing. Think to somebody hearing his voice strangely echoed and discoverying secret passages in the dark...

I think that "Davison's Chamber" even if not too dissimilar from the 80% of the Senmuth's huge production succeeds in giving the idea. The music is dark and powerful somewhat melodic, too, thanks to the "electronic flute".

The hashish and alcool addicted colonel Vyse, aka Daued, blasted gunpowder in the pyramid to discover the "Wellington's Chamber" up above Davison's one. The music tells the story of the attempts to break the granite...this is I think the meaning of the non-rhythmic heavy percussions in the track that's darker than the first.

"Nelson's Chamber" is above Wellington's. It's the one with the best conserved hieroglyphics. Each track is darker than the previous, but all the album has to be intended as the discovery of the 5 chambers, so it's like a single track split in parts. This one in particular has elements of Krautrock.

"Lady Abruthnot's Chamber" is above Nelson's. This is what Col. Vyne wrote in his book:

"The chamber above Nelson's (afterwards called Lady Arbuthnot's) was opened, and in the course of the afternoon I entered it with Mr. Raven. We found this apartment of the same description, and nearly of the same dimensions as the others below it, being thirty-seven feet four inches by sixteen feet four inches. Like the rest it was quite empty, and built in the same manner, but with less care, and with a greater proportion of calcareous stone on the northern and southern sides. The excavation was continued, in order to get above it. In the evening I returned to Cairo "

I think that after reading this you can like this ambient and lighter track.

The "Campbell's Chamber" was discovered by Giovan Battista Caviglia. It has bowl-shaped hollows in the beams that make up the floor. Nobody knows what they were for. This is the track of the mistery, the most experimental and spacey, at least for the first 3/4 minutes, then , even with a different melody, the "electronic flute" is back to close the circle with the first track. The journey into the pyramid is ending and we are going back to the desert's light.

Without searching for the meaning of the 5 chambers (thanks to wikipedia and the internet in general) I probably wouldn't have listened to the album in the right way. With this background it's an interesting experience. Really not bad.