Nº 18 MURMURATIONS – sonicbrat

After his 2013 album Stranger to my room on KITCHEN. LABEL, Singapore-based award-winning composer sonicbrat (Darren Ng) makes his long-anticipated return with MURMURATIONS.

MURMURATIONS embodies a quiet longing for beauty so distant that it can only be perceived with eyes closed, like a lost wayfarer in search of answers to unspoken questions. Through his delicate and introspective approach, sonicbrat creates an album that exists in a constant state of transition, suspended in a liminal space where time bends, fades, and reshapes itself. His work moves like a shifting breeze, tracing the delicate, ephemeral nature of existence — an exploration of what is fleeting and what endures.

Entirely recorded on the acoustic piano, MURMURATIONS reflects sonicbrat’s meticulous attention to detail and intimate sound design. By employing various miking techniques, he reveals the often-overlooked mechanical sounds — the creaks and vibrations of the instrument’s wood, the natural resonances from the strings and soundboard — creating a sonic palette that is both raw and intricate. Each composition is an extension of sonicbrat’s own introspective journey, as he immerses the listener in the tactile reality of sound, revealing the inner life of the piano in a way that feels both personal and universal.

Drawing inspiration from the natural phenomenon of murmuration — the coordinated, fluid movement of migratory birds — MURMURATIONS mirrors sonicbrat’s own reflections on life’s displacements and the estrangement that comes with being disconnected from the rhythms of nature. The album paints the chimerical journey of an imaginary starling, its flight charting an abstract path through a series of shifting, imagined landscapes. Through these intimate compositions, sonicbrat’s explores the human condition, asking what happens when one finds themselves perpetually transiting, never truly arriving.

The compositions of MURMURATIONS evoke a cross between the works of contemporary Neo-classical resonance, and the serene, ambient works of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Harold Budd, where the piano becomes a vessel for reflective contemplation. sonicbrat’s work shares a kinship with these artists, though it stands apart in his own signature exploration of sound. His use of the piano’s natural timbres, combined with his quiet, methodical approach, invites listeners into a unique sonic world where time seems to dissolve. 

CREDIT

Composed & recorded by Darren Ng
Mastered by Ricks Ang

Design by Ricks Ang