Paul Mallatratt – The Planets; Screaming Thru Heartache
Ambient, atmospheric soundscape and field recording artist Paul Mallatratt, who wrote, recorded and released three albums in 2023 (each with a different theme or sonic focus) has added another two titles to his catalogue.
On Drone Day, 25th May, Mallattratt released Screaming Thru Heartache; a few months prior however he released an album with its own, very distinct, set of atmospheres…
The Planets is not an ambient reinterpretation of Gustav Holt’s classic orchestral suite – far from it.
For inspiration Paul Mallatratt utilised an audio project called Sononaut and its eight, open-source plug-ins (effects processors that emulate the atmospheric conditions of the planets in our solar system).
While no more than (albeit interesting) noise in their individual states, Mallatratt blended the Sononaut plug-ins with a mix of drone, experimental and ambient sounds, plus additional atmospheric noise.
The results are eight ambient soundscapes that seek to musically emulate the atmospheric and geological, moving (in terms of the track sequencing) from the planet nearest our sun, Mercury, to the farthest reaches of our solar system and Neptune.
In the case of the 'Mercury' and 'Venus' pieces, each planet is re-imagined using rock crushing sounds alongside soundscape noise such as, for 'Mercury,' dissonant chiming tones; 'Venus' has a darker or colder ambience through thunderous planetary storm patterns.
'Earth,' rather fittingly, opens with the sound of crashing waves before segueing to, and blending with, an atmospheric tone that is almost choral.
'Mars' utilises sounds more akin to wavering chimes for its atmosphere (or lack thereof), which sonically mimic the constant violent winds that reverberate around, and off, its highest mountains and ridges.
The near ten-minute 'Jupiter' takes that wind buffeted atmosphere effect further; like 'Earth,' there’s a choral overtone applied, but this time it’s far more ethereal; a lone voice drifting through the winds of the gas giant.
At just over ten-minutes 'Saturn' is the longest piece on the album, one that hints at reaching the more distant parts of our solar system, mixing dark but curiously inviting ambient atmospherics with sounds akin to static discharge.
The use of haunting synths mixed with a static-charged atmosphere and a later, repeated hum, make 'Uranus' the most ambient of the eight pieces, while fellow ice giant 'Neptune,' nodding to its furthest planetary distance, is the coldest sounding.
Our trip through the Neptune atmosphere, here with an effect that sounds like synths being played through a 1300mph wind tunnel (yep, it’s quite breezy out by Neptune), concludes a unique sounding, hour-long journey through the main bodies of the solar system.
On Drone Day, 25th May, Mallattratt released Screaming Thru Heartache; a few months prior however he released an album with its own, very distinct, set of atmospheres…
The Planets is not an ambient reinterpretation of Gustav Holt’s classic orchestral suite – far from it.
For inspiration Paul Mallatratt utilised an audio project called Sononaut and its eight, open-source plug-ins (effects processors that emulate the atmospheric conditions of the planets in our solar system).
While no more than (albeit interesting) noise in their individual states, Mallatratt blended the Sononaut plug-ins with a mix of drone, experimental and ambient sounds, plus additional atmospheric noise.
The results are eight ambient soundscapes that seek to musically emulate the atmospheric and geological, moving (in terms of the track sequencing) from the planet nearest our sun, Mercury, to the farthest reaches of our solar system and Neptune.
In the case of the 'Mercury' and 'Venus' pieces, each planet is re-imagined using rock crushing sounds alongside soundscape noise such as, for 'Mercury,' dissonant chiming tones; 'Venus' has a darker or colder ambience through thunderous planetary storm patterns.
'Earth,' rather fittingly, opens with the sound of crashing waves before segueing to, and blending with, an atmospheric tone that is almost choral.
'Mars' utilises sounds more akin to wavering chimes for its atmosphere (or lack thereof), which sonically mimic the constant violent winds that reverberate around, and off, its highest mountains and ridges.
The near ten-minute 'Jupiter' takes that wind buffeted atmosphere effect further; like 'Earth,' there’s a choral overtone applied, but this time it’s far more ethereal; a lone voice drifting through the winds of the gas giant.
At just over ten-minutes 'Saturn' is the longest piece on the album, one that hints at reaching the more distant parts of our solar system, mixing dark but curiously inviting ambient atmospherics with sounds akin to static discharge.
The use of haunting synths mixed with a static-charged atmosphere and a later, repeated hum, make 'Uranus' the most ambient of the eight pieces, while fellow ice giant 'Neptune,' nodding to its furthest planetary distance, is the coldest sounding.
Our trip through the Neptune atmosphere, here with an effect that sounds like synths being played through a 1300mph wind tunnel (yep, it’s quite breezy out by Neptune), concludes a unique sounding, hour-long journey through the main bodies of the solar system.
Screaming Thru Heartache was written for, inspired by, and released on Drone Day, the annual celebration of drone, community, and experimental sounds.
But the five track album isn’t just some forty-seven minutes of tonal drone (or dronal tone); it's more akin to a 'dronemospheric' variation on the continuous monophonic, or long note, theme.
As such it has more sonic texture and tonal subtleties than the standard definition of a drone album.
'Holding The Storm' perfectly describes its sound; that of a dark and spooky wind. As much atmospheric noise as drone, the opening track sounds like it's right on the cusp of breaking into a more violent, howling gale.
The eleven-minute 'Northern Anthem' has a repeated, rhythmic, distant bell sound that acts as the constant through a blanket of spacey synths; following number 'Come To Me' is more meditative in its warmer, and inviting, synth blanket of sound (it also utilises, quite subtly, the choral synth technique employed on a couple of tracks on The Planets).
'Riptide On Cloud 9' recalls Hawkwind in more prog-ambient instrumental mode (sans guitars); the hammer & block styled percussion, which slowly becomes more rhythmically elaborate, acts as the pulse, or drone-beat, of the eighteen-minute atmospheric piece.
The shorter title track, which closes out the album, is a moody and slightly eerie piece that conjures images of anguish or foreboding. Indeed, it seems to musically reflect the album’s cover, with violin/ string sounds playing in melancholic grief atop a synth-wash drone.
Screaming Thru Heartache is an interesting, at times captivating, atmospheric drone offering, one that deserves to be heard and appreciated by a much larger number of ambient/ drone fans than it will probably achieve.
That has a lot to do with Paul Mallatratt’s relatively low-key, Bandcamp page approach to his ambient recordings, but Screaming Thru Heartache also had the misfortune of going up against another drone album released around the same time; one that was always going to get more attention...
On the eve of Drone Day Stephen Wilson, in his electronic/ drone-heavy guise of Bass Communion, released The Itself Of Itself, the first album under the Bass Communion name in nearly thirteen years.
It unarguably had its moments, but having a twelve-minute track entitled 'Study for Tape Hiss and Other Audio Artefacts,' and consisting of just that, is more king’s new clothes than creative new sounds.
It's unlikely that Paul Mallatratt will ever command the same attention as Stephen Wilson or his Bass Communion works, but that should not take away from his own artistry and ambient ambitiousness.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
But the five track album isn’t just some forty-seven minutes of tonal drone (or dronal tone); it's more akin to a 'dronemospheric' variation on the continuous monophonic, or long note, theme.
As such it has more sonic texture and tonal subtleties than the standard definition of a drone album.
'Holding The Storm' perfectly describes its sound; that of a dark and spooky wind. As much atmospheric noise as drone, the opening track sounds like it's right on the cusp of breaking into a more violent, howling gale.
The eleven-minute 'Northern Anthem' has a repeated, rhythmic, distant bell sound that acts as the constant through a blanket of spacey synths; following number 'Come To Me' is more meditative in its warmer, and inviting, synth blanket of sound (it also utilises, quite subtly, the choral synth technique employed on a couple of tracks on The Planets).
'Riptide On Cloud 9' recalls Hawkwind in more prog-ambient instrumental mode (sans guitars); the hammer & block styled percussion, which slowly becomes more rhythmically elaborate, acts as the pulse, or drone-beat, of the eighteen-minute atmospheric piece.
The shorter title track, which closes out the album, is a moody and slightly eerie piece that conjures images of anguish or foreboding. Indeed, it seems to musically reflect the album’s cover, with violin/ string sounds playing in melancholic grief atop a synth-wash drone.
Screaming Thru Heartache is an interesting, at times captivating, atmospheric drone offering, one that deserves to be heard and appreciated by a much larger number of ambient/ drone fans than it will probably achieve.
That has a lot to do with Paul Mallatratt’s relatively low-key, Bandcamp page approach to his ambient recordings, but Screaming Thru Heartache also had the misfortune of going up against another drone album released around the same time; one that was always going to get more attention...
On the eve of Drone Day Stephen Wilson, in his electronic/ drone-heavy guise of Bass Communion, released The Itself Of Itself, the first album under the Bass Communion name in nearly thirteen years.
It unarguably had its moments, but having a twelve-minute track entitled 'Study for Tape Hiss and Other Audio Artefacts,' and consisting of just that, is more king’s new clothes than creative new sounds.
It's unlikely that Paul Mallatratt will ever command the same attention as Stephen Wilson or his Bass Communion works, but that should not take away from his own artistry and ambient ambitiousness.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ