Faith Coloccia is amazing; plain and simple. Her newest full length under the moniker of Mamiffer, Mare Decendrii (due March 15th from SIGE), is an otherworldly experience filled with enveloping textures and potent melodies—absolutely impossible not to become lost in. Driven by Faith’s genial spirit, this new album features, of course, Aaron Turner (ex-Isis/Twilight (USA)/Old Man Gloom) but also a slew of other musicians from prominent doom, drone and post rock projects such as Earth, Thrones and others, all acting as one remarkably tight musical unit.
A combination of piano, sludgy guitars, synths, strings, bells, earthy drums and a mixture of male and female voices drive this piece of shimmering atmospheric art. Often when a record is described as having an abundance of “ethereal†or “celestial†voices it is simple hyperbole. Mare Decendrii, however, really is brimming with wonderful instances of the human voice as an instrument as dynamic as the ever-present piano; at times the vocals call to mind the “world†era of Dead Can Dance. The ambience on this album, too, is real. Where many projects claim “ambience†as a term to define their use of lo-fi minimalism, Mamiffer allows sounds to swell, evolve and morph in ways that are captivating and which exploit all of the instruments and timbres without sounding exclusive or forced. For instance, they have the ability to take a passage of tense and suspenseful music and draw from it something absolutely lovely simply by letting the overtones and inherent harmonies grow. There is an understanding of how to locate and exploit the soul stirring moments of this kind of music without the meandering “jamming†sometimes utilized by post-(insert genre here) bands; here is selective composition.
From the tug of war between consonance and dissonance of the opening track, “As Freedom Rings†to the camera panoramas of the cinematic “Eating Our Bodies†and on through the rainy autumn day of “Iron Water†there is a sense of absolute continuity. Each song is a fantasia doing away with conventional structures and embracing a sort of guided natural progression of the emotional identities of each song. The result is a sonically dense album that flows from beginning to end with never a dull moment.
It is difficult to put into words just how much an effect my first couple of listens have had on me. Mare Decendrii must be heard by anyone who enjoys emotional artistic music. This entire album is one shimmering entity that feels fresh throughout. The tropes of post rock are all there, but handled so deftly they go nearly unnoticed in what is absolutely a work of pure heart. From this album, one gets the sense of an artist simply creating with the tools they have and enjoying every moment of it, oblivious to constraints and expectations. Indeed, this is simply wonderful music.
