Bedless Bones is Kadri Sammel, who is an alternative electronic music and visual artist from Tallinn, Estonia. A singer-songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and interdisciplinary artist who is also a member of avantgarde deathbeat / outdustrial band Forgotten Sunrise and the singer of up-and-coming UK / Estonian dystopian industrial band Deathsomnia. She also DJs under the name Dirt Vessel.
`Mire Of Mercury` out this month is the third album from this project which has been described as a moix of Darkwave, Modern Classical, New Wave, and Synth-pop. Kadri has shared that her conscious and unconscious inspirations have been Nick Cave, early Fever Ray, Dead Can Dance, Einstürzende Neubauten, nighttime wanderings, her own experiences, people she`s met, films she`s seen, art, dreams, and nightmares.
The album comes to light with `Dead Woman` which kind of arises and grows with a constant pulsating electronic beat, synth waves and Kadri`s captivating vocals floated above. We enjoy a faster EBM beat on `Litha` a pagan holiday which is a celebration of the summer solstice with lyrics that are almost dreamlike.
`Uncomfortable` is far from what it`s title might convey and is a charismatic fairly mesmerising slice of pulsing electronic dream pop. There`s a real enthralling texture to `Thunder` which usually suggests a loud rumbling or crashing noise heard after a lightning flash due to the expansion of rapidly heated air. Here it`s a powerful soundscape with an underlying tension that retains a delicious, supressed pressure throughout its lifespan.
`Homeostasis` I read is the state of steady internal, physical, chemical, and social conditions maintained by living systems. This almost instrumental composition has a rhythmic energetic beat that does seem to suggest a biological infrastructure or independent ecosystem of sorts. There`s a more unreal or otherworldly feel about `Quick, silver` which becomes nigh on hypnotic at times.
`Map To the Stars` has a clanging recurrent pulse at its core and musically does seem to mirror a galaxy, constellation, or group of heavenly or celestial bodies. A delightful percussive rhythm leads us into `Blood Citadel` which is an absorbing reflective aural almost spellbinding submission.
We return to a more EBM led cadence with `Solar Animus` whose title may suggest an aversion or odium of the sun`s energetic energy or power. The title alone of `Tongue and Rhythm` implies so much and it’s an appealing probing number with a fast-paced tempo.
The album concludes with `Tantalus` and is initially a melancholic slow burn that may reflect Tantalus, who was a Greek mythological figure, most famous for his punishment in Tartarus, where he was made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink. The track picks up pace as it evolves but retains that sense of the forsaken.
`Mire Of Mercury` is a wonderfully varied collection of electro / synth wave tracks whose titles contains words or phrases that are not always immediately recognisable and need some research or investigation which for me adds to the overall lure of the release.
It`s a body of work that will stretch your mind as well as satisfying your aural pleasure.
Rating 8.5 /10
REVIEW: BEDLESS BONES – MIRE OF MERCURY (2023)
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