Unspeakable Visions (Knekelhuis 2024)

Michel Banabila - Unspeakable Visions

Banabila returns with a second LP release on Knekelhuis. The renowned Dutch producer is up there among the stars when it comes to ambient music and the so-called ‘fourth world’ legacy. On this eleven-track album, we witness soul-wrenching, kraut-tinted, and early-yet-modernist electronics.

Coming from his heart, these imaginative recordings center around otherworldly voices – fictional characters chanting in a made-up language, imbued with a captivating spirit, transcending linguistic barriers. Through remarkable complexity and technique, 'Unspeakable Visions’ is full of sonic textures, together evoking a layered, emotional arc.

While the track 'Rattles' still references the artist's first album on Knekelhuis, 'Echo Transformations', the style of most other tracks departs towards an intriguing new mix of both pop-infused songs and gloomy abstraction, balancing between a sense of anticipation and desolation. (Luke Cohlen, May 2024)

Album snippets:


Reach Sound:
Banabila seems to have tuned a radio station to the global frequency of the Earth.

The Answer Is In The Beat:
“Little Star” seems like it can only be described as an alien lullaby.

Vital Weekly:
'It’s melodic, rhythmic and delightful, but it’s also very ambient, very atmospheric, and dark at times.

Record Report:
Unspeakable Visions delves into sonics and structure more holistically for those seeking a departure from the ordinary.

Ambientblog:
His evolution has birthed a genre-defying sound that’s instantly identifiable and impossible to replicate.

Audiopile:
Banabila creates something genuinely strange and dreamlike. But it's also immediately appealing and deeply chill. Frankly, an excessive abundance of unearthly wonders.

Written and performed by Michel Banabila.

Sounds: voice (processed), Qu-Bit Nebulae granular sampler, ukelele, modified vintage cassette player, angklung, Eventide H9 harmonizer, turtle flute, text to speech, software instruments, voice cloning, hand drum, found objects, rain stick, web SDR, Roland VT3, tapes, field recordings.

Design by Steele Bonus.
Artwork by Keziah Philipps.
Mastering by Wouter Brandenburg.
Executive producer Mark van de Maat.

Cat. nr. KH052
All rights reserved ℗ + © Knekelhuis 2024

The Unreal Realm

1. The Unreal Realm * 04:18
2. Lineage (featuring Salar Asid) * 14:57
3. The Process From Birth ** 11:36
4. Timeless Tide ** 06:28
5. Bogus Dominion (featuring Mete Erker) 02:58
6. Banabila & Machinefabriek - Inward Spiral 05:14
7. Pierre Bastien & Michel Banabila - Ambiance Subaquatique 08:15
8. Dave Liebman & Michel Banabila - Night Eyes 06:56
9. Mind Shifts * 11:42

* Excerpt from a score for Yin Yue's choreography 'Somewhere',
New York Live Arts - New York, june 20 - 22, 2024.

** Excerpt from a score for Yin Yue's choreography 'Timeless Tide', BalletMet - Columbus, march 15 - 23, 2024.

All tracks written & performed by Michel Banabila, except
06 written & performed by Michel Banabila & Rutger Zuydervelt,
07 written & performed by Pierre Bastien & Michel Banabila,
08 written & performed by Dave Liebman & Michel Banabila.

A special thanks to Maryana Golovchenko for the contributed sample (vocal snippet in Timeless Tide).

Design / artwork by Rutger Zuydervelt.
Mastering by Marlon Wolterink / White Noise Studio.

Night Eyes with Dave Liebman was previously released as a digital single (june 2023)

Music for Yin Yue commissioned by YYDC, New York, august 2023.
Dance commissioned by Northrop at The University of Minnesota, august 2023.
Album compiled & produced by Michel Banabila, 2024, Rotterdam.

REVIEWS / QUOTES:

DISCOGS
This album is not easy to describe in terms of style, but what is certain is that it far surpasses many contemporary works with similar ambitions. Listening is a tremendous experience and a treat for the ears. I noticed it a long time ago and here Mr. Michel Banabila just proves once again that he has virtually limitless creative potential. (Dove_m)

SUBJECTIVISTEN / HET SCHADUWKABINET:
Ik weet niet precies wat er achter de titel “het onwerkelijke rijk” schuil gaat, maar krijg er wel een idee bij. Er huist een bevreemdende sfeer in het album, die associaties oproept met de huidige maatschappij...

...Afwisselende kruisbestuivingen van ambient, drones, minimal music, neoklassiek, pianomuziek, tribale percussie geluiden, jazz en wereldse elementen. Banabila maakt hierbij mooi gebruik van stiltes en ruimtes, waardoor het veel aan de verbeeldingskracht van de luisteraar overlaat.
‘Een diepgravende schoonheid’. (Jan Willem Broek) CC RYDER:

Salar Asid is een van de musici die samen met Michel Banabila te horen is op diens nieuwe album, ‘The Unreal Realm’. In het nummer ‘Lineage’ speelt Asid de kamancheh, een fretloos snaarinstrument met een lange hals dat populair is in Azerbeidzjan, Iran en Turkije. ‘Lineage’ heeft een speelduur van vijftien minuten en is afkomstig uit een partituur voor de voorstelling ‘Somewhere’ van de Chinese danseres en choreografe Yin Yue, die in juni 2024 in première gaat bij New York Live Arts.

‘Lineage’ volgt op het langzame en donkere titelnummer van het album, een pianomeditatie en de opener van ‘The Unreal Realm’. ‘Lineage’ begint lichter van toon, met een sprankelende piano die een neoklassieke stroom van muziek op gang brengt, waarin de kamancheh van Salar Asid lange gestreken lijnen weeft.

Dan, na ongeveer zes minuten, transformeert de sfeer en bouwt zich een schurende en knarsende klankwereld op, gedragen door een minimalistische getijdenbeweging, met aan het einde daarvan, even, een zacht en etherisch instrumentaal koraal.’ De kunst die hier wordt gepresenteerd is van grote klasse’.’ ‘Een klein meesterwerk’ (Corné Evers)