Noir Ambient Mastery from Dead Melodies

The brilliant mind that is Dead Melodies returns with one of THE best albums in the dark ambient scene of 2022. Last year saw the release of this author’s personal favorite release of 2021, Fabled Machines of Old, and continuing with a narrative approach to the aural storytelling mosaic, composer Tom Moore offers us Murken Hollow, a dreary, gloom-laden work of sonic atmosphere that wafts character like the trails of smoke from a lit cigarette slowly burning to ash amidst a full ashtray, all under the soul-draining fluorescence of the police station lights above. I use this description on purpose, as this newest narrative tale from Dead Melodies is a brilliant display of narrative presented as a modern noir. This is the soundtrack of a darker Lynch or Fincher film, with the atmosphere and world-building elements of video games such as Silent Hill.

Ten unexplained murders have occurred in the city, each with strange circumstances, and in the pocket of each victim, a mysterious letter, and a ticket stub from some mysterious town called Murken Hollow. I once again will reiterate how overjoyed I am at world-building and narrative setups in the dark ambient scene, and Dead Melodies proves to be the best at this. Typing oblique words meant for an internal drone monologue is not the only facet of this type of music, but rather, merely the hook - the lure - to compel the reader to begin listening to the soundscapes contained within, and this is where the true artistry shines. A true master of the atmospheric craft, Tom Moore has crafted subdued drones and pads, muted percussions and soft strings, muffled basses and field recordings - all weave together into a languorous picture of dingy police station walls, coffee going bad on a hot plate, flickering fluorescent lights pelting drab, stained and peeling concrete walls; acrid cigarette smoke wafting from a an ashtray that desperately needs to be emptied, as the smoke wafts up lazily, pointing at the corkboard on the wall, a nexus of criss-crossed colored yarn, pins, and polaroid photos of gruesome mysterious crime scenes. It is remarkable how typing a few words as narrative, and then crafting certain sounds together have the ability to evoke precise imagery in a listener’s mind (me included), and yet, this album does exactly that.

Aiding Moore in this doldrum soundscape are the saxophone talents of Phil Gardelis, and the haunting vocals from Kim Guy. Their respective parts ebb and flow into and out of the tracks with deliberate purpose, never overstaying their presence, and slowly drifting away. The subdued drones and textures that pervade each track give this entire album the relaxed, almost resolute apathy one would feel watching a world-weary detective piece clues together in his office.  A perfect convergence of imaginative storytelling and purposeful atmospheric sound design, this is the soundtrack to a modern noir/thriller film in the listener’s imagination, and I cannot recommend this album enough. Get Murken Hollow in CD Digipak and digital format on the Cryo Chamber Bandcamp page.