Mute Branches 'Us Without the World' MC OA 08
Info
We are in excess of situations where one would like to escape as far as possible; to, for a second, indulge the fantasies of the greener grass in the mythical Elsewhere.
James Cresswell’s Mute Branches project ventures to the final frontier on “Us Without the World”, an exercise in optimism weighed down by realism, searching the stars for hope only to find the baggage we already brought with us.
Nine cinematic tracks weave and bob through modes of expression ranging from warm fuzzy drones, colourful electronica, radio-sampled audio collage, retro-futuristic daydreams, guitar-led drifty slowcore, up to dark ambient meditations.
An optimistic sense of wonder and discovery spreads through the first part of the album, only for the second half to find us adrift and confronted with something stranger, colder, and more unpredictable. Disparate by design but united in colouring within Cresswell’s idiosyncratic lines, the tracks give “Us Without the World” a unique flavour of dreaminess and weariness. Synths, guitars, samples, and voice come together creating a sense of place in full, glorious stereo, forming the most complete of Mute Branches’ releases thus far.
After the post-rock, there is still us. Just us.
