Mouse on Mars kick off a series where the duo revisit and enhance some of their earliest recordings with
Bilk, a 1994 sonic collage
Jan St. Werner and
Andi Toma created for a Finnish public radio program curated by
Saehkoe Recordings. Built from sounds
Toma and
St. Werner recorded on a neighborhood walk and embellished with further field recordings, guitars, a jew's harp, and a plethora of effects and synths, the piece predates the duo's debut album,
Vulvaland, by a few months. Nevertheless,
Mouse on Mars' mischief and flair for complex arrangements are fully on display. A cat meowing in the distance provides the foundation for "Bilk A1," which slowly subsumes the sounds of the sidewalk with thick, percolating layers of electronics penetrated by a screeching modem. Here and on the rest of
Bilk, the synths and samplers are just as raw -- if not more so -- as the sounds of
Mouse on Mars' environment, giving the piece a live energy despite its precise construction. When the guitar and jew's harp join the fray later on,
Bilk's trance-inducing powers only grow, and the dub and ambient elements that defined
Vulvaland come to the fore on its increasingly alien-sounding second half. The way the dripping rhythms and glassy tones of "Bilk B2" float in orbit makes it easy to hear how
St. Werner and
Toma developed similar ideas on "Katang" and other tracks from their debut album. Since the piece was never broadcast again after its premiere, its return feels like reclaiming a missing piece of the
Mouse on Mars puzzle nearly 30 years later. Equally transporting and amusing,
Bilk sets expectations high for the rest of the series. ~ Heather Phares
![Syro [LP]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0801061024710_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Syro [LP]")
