Various Artists

As an aficionado of the internet it always fills me with adulation when Independent labels create new releases that are purposefully designed to be available on the internet for free. With so much stiff competition from all over the globe it makes sense to give away at least some free material and if you’re lucky you may just pick up some devoted fan bases in the process. There are many creative labels that follow this ethos at present but perhaps none (at least that I have encountered) that give up so much material so freely as the Silber label. While most online labels will give a few free songs away here and there Silber have consistently provided free downloads on a fair few of their artists’ albums as well as some pretty good themed compilations (anything from songs about the end of the world to their recent Christmas compilation, all of course with Silber’s usual dark and unique twist).

Their latest compilation, Silber on Silber is yet another two CD compilation, this time taking tracks from Silber artists and having them re-imagined by others, both on and off the label.

Anyone unfamiliar with Silber’s content will get a good impression of their modus operandi from the offset, with John Costello’s version of Vlor’s ‘Wires’ opening up the album with a brilliantly moody dark wave/ post rock concoction. Followed shortly thereafter by CJ Boyd’s guitar drone version of Alan Sparhawk’s ‘Sagrado Corazón de Jesú’, sprinkled ever so slightly with a Mediterranean, if not Latin sound and flavor.

While each track is a reworking of an artist’s previous achievement, lack of knowledge on this front should not be something to put off listening as while the esoteric nature of each track will give extra interest to fans, on a general scale the album acts as a great opener to many different styles of outsider sounds. Take North Sea Navigator’s version of ‘Edward’ (featuring Rose Kemp), as truly ethereal and haunting as Black Happy Day’s original and a song Silber should be proud of in its own right, regardless of any intricate back story this and all other tracks featuring may come with. In short, a layman need not fear listening due to their lack of Silber knowledge as a good piece of weird folk is a good piece of weird folk regardless.

That said, familiar names do appear upon the compilation’s first CD (I say familiar hazily, perhaps in recognition that they should be familiar to the discerning listener) that, as well as either contributing by performance or reworking, adds a little solid ground to what, debatably, could be considered a very taciturn compilation. Firstly Fornever’s reworking of Lycia’s, ‘A Presence in the Woods’ takes the band’s recognizable dreamy dark wave riffs and samples them with a Wax Trax! records industrial sentiment. Including aggressive drum loops and synthesiser motifs evocative of the works of Wumpscut or Front Line Assembly.

Perhaps most recognisable on the first compilation is Jessica Bailiff with her track ‘You’re Landlocked My Love’ (a reworking of an Aarktika track). While less then two minutes in length, its resonance lasts much longer with several loops of Bailiff’s voice circling one another into a redolent soundscape that stands out as a distinctive piece when compared to her usual works.

CD two also provides similar weird yet great moments with some more well-known faces of Silber coming out to add their own unique mark on previous artists’ creations. For example Plumerai are unmistakable when they and their idiosyncratic harpsichord sound take on Remora’s ‘Kill My Way out of Here’, creating a slow, sauntering track heightened by Elizabeth Ezell’s husky vocal talent.

Look out too for Recorded Home’s version of ‘Songs for Elena’. A once halcyon slice of ambience and drone from Aarktika turned into an equally as spacey and sombre slice of Americana Folk. Also Rivulet’s version of Remora’s ‘I Told Jesus Christ How Much I Love Her’provides not just a sincere and melancholic Folk sound but also one of the more accessible tracks on both CD’s. If the drone and oddity is getting too much for you then stopping by this oasis of unperturbed tranquillity is highly recommended.

With so much variety of style and talent appearing here there’s sure to be something for everybody. That said even if, on the slim chance, you find nothing of interest here then at least all you’ve had to do is right click and select save as. And surely for that it’s worth a look from just about everyone regardless of their musical interest or preferences. Because finding something of high quality and for free these days is a rare thing indeed.

Michael Byrne

Silber on Silber

Silber, 2007

Track Listing

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