Iván Muela - ibidem II

 Released: February 16

Following up from his previous release nearly four years ago, London-based minimalist composer Iván Muela brings us six new long-form track that follow a similar approach for each piece. Going from track to track, Muela keeps things rather simple and straightforward with no story or overarching theme other than to explore variations on the concept of drone music itself. In other words, a Drone Study as each track is named. 

There is no particular rhyme or reason to the order of tracks and each one seems to sit on its own while also being part of the larger project. Some of these pieces are more intense than others, “Drone Study VII” being one example as Muela makes friends with slow frequency modulation and deep distortion, giving a hypnotic but also somewhat disquieting vibe as dissonant frequencies create a sense of friction. But these examples are countered by tracks such as “Drone Study XI” which falls headlong into more airy textures that feel ethereal and ghostly. But even this one keeps that undergirding and low frequency bass grumbling underneath it all. And the final piece, “Drone Study XII” takes us in the direction of industry with sounds of soft grinding and what feels like machines whirring in the distance as the track comes to an intense crescendo in the last few minutes. 

Ibidem II is an incredibly hypnotic album, both as a whole and for its individual parts. The drones are varied throughout with all manner of different frequencies and vibes. Some are aggressive, some are peaceful, some are airy, and some are pure atmosphere. But that’s what makes this album such a joy to listen to, because Muela is able to craft such a varied assortment of tracks which all start from the same premise. It’s an impressive showing of the range of one artist and one very particular genre of music.