Cities Last Broadcast Presents The Umbra Report - Seance, Exorcism, or Depression? You Decide
One of the most notable craftsmen in the dark ambient genre is without a doubt, Pär Boström and his project, Cities Last Broadcast. CLB’s previous full-length album, Miles to Midnight was a unique vista of sound, evoking an ethereal film noir, hovering somewhere between mundane, horror, and science fiction, and the newest album, The Umbra Report is much the same.
Mournful cries from synth textures greet the ears from the first track, while a droning pressure builds all around you. This first song’s title is A Message, and it sets the stage for the album’s timbre - desultrous drones evoking a sense of ghostly messages from beyond this mortal plane, as if the artist has intentionally crafted an album using Electronic Voice Phenomena from the spirit world.
The album’s presentation is as mysterious as it is disturbing; while not necessarily a horror album, the listener could easily interpret horror feelings, much akin to a David Lynch film - as the best explanation I can think would be “horror adjacent”. I would write that somewhere between a David Lynch and James Wan film, this album rests upon its textured nuances, ready to enthrall its listeners. Songs using titles such as Antumbra evoke a sense of forbidden interaction and landscapes upon which humans were not meant to see.
This is one of the most interestingly unique albums of which I have ever had the pleasure to listen to. The oblique descriptions of this album, along with the brilliant and compelling artwork by Simon Heath evoke some forbidden practices, a conjuring of things not meant to be conjured, using esoteric machines for purposes we will never know, and this album introduces these musical vibrations into the mortal reality, while not forcing an answer upon you - the question posed by the album’s precis merely asks, “is it a depression, a séance, or an exorcism?” - the listener must decide, and while the listener is deciding, they can pick up The Umbra Report in CD digipak or digital format on the Cryo Chamber Bandcamp page.
A delicate weaving of field recordings and manipulated electronics are used interchangeably, as the songs gently evolve into each other, the former coalescing to the latter, all while sitting on atonal beds of ambient warmth, signature flourishes from ProtoU.