Hidden Shoal is proud to announce the release of ‘Day 15’, the new single from German experimental electronic artist Markus Mehr. The track is the first release from his forthcoming EP Watershed, due out October 23rd, and is available to stream on Spotify and all the usual services. The music of Markus Mehr is also available for licensing via Hidden Shoal (film, TV, web, games etc). Check here for more details.
“These countervailing forces of intensity against calm, large against small, atonal against melodic, unadorned and ornamented, and percussive against drone are what helps position “Brief Conversations “at a near-perfect balance between music and pure sound art, creating a rare work where experimentalism never becomes alienating, and musicality is embraced as much as texture.” – Igloo Mag on Brief Conversations
‘Day 15’ is the first chapter in Watershed, a deeply affecting new work built predominantly from sound fragments Mehr found online during the first weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Drawing on material captured on the 15th day of the invasion, the track transforms these found sounds through Mehr’s distinctive compositional process, with synthetic elements used only sparingly. The result is less an attempt to explain the inexplicable than a sonic search for understanding in the face of it.
Across Watershed, Mehr works with recordings gathered on the 7th, 15th and 17th days following the invasion, treating them as both raw musical material and documents of a defining historical moment. The EP reflects the helplessness, fear and uncertainty unleashed by Russia’s attack, while confronting broader questions of security, freedom and a world changing at breathtaking speed. Mehr describes Watershed as a modest expression of solidarity with the people and soldiers of Ukraine in their struggle for freedom and democracy.
