KMRU – Argon
by
Dan
Berlin / Nairobi based electronic musician and sound-artist Joseph Kamaru, aka KMRU releases Argon, the second track to be taken from his beautiful compendium album Logue, comprising works from his past years of self-releasing. The synth line of 2018’s Argon pops and bubbles, mimicking bright African melodic vibrancy while a churning, static distortion threatens to breach the surface, revealing a sophisticated, measured understanding of texture and timbral interplay.
KMRU is uniquely positioned between the rarely-married cultures of ambient and African musics, entwining his compositions with field recordings from his native Kenya and the surrounding countries of East Africa.Though the deep, tectonic slowness of his music can be compared to the work of Lawrence English, William Basinski, Stars of the Lid (i.e. Western musicians), Kamaru’s core culture shines through in a pure and singular way. Found within Logue’s pieces are radiant melodic antiphony commonplace in African music, and huge, spacious drones that reveal his love for ambient soundscapes, held effortlessly together by field recordings and analogue synthesis. “Every track reflects an event, space or location,” Joseph writes. “The pieces are developed from field recordings, improvisation and spontaneity.”