Dardis is the ambient and experimental sound project for Northern Irish writer, editor and sound artist Colin Dardis. I had previously reviewed “A Chain Reaction of Various Cracks” and “Funerealism” by Dardis and enjoyed them, so I was interested to see what this artist had in store for us this time. First off, a murmuration is when a flock of birds is swirling around, most famously starlings, so this is about movement, rather than sounds. Dardis describes the album thus: “While Trump, Musk, et al. strip away and dismantle the fabric of American democracy and diversity, ‘A Murmuration of Stalins’ finds expression within chaos, reflecting the earlier work of Dardis which sought to give a soundtrack to his experiences of depression. While the news today makes for uncomfortable viewing, we must delve into that discomfort and fight to find ways to express our own desires and frustrations, political and personal. We must shout down the fascists with our own noise.” So let’s dive in and see what we have here.

This is one track titled “A Murmuration of Stalins” that is 40 minutes long, but you could think of it as several movements. This track is droning soundscapes with a tinge of discomfort. At 18 minutes in, it hits its stride with a melancholy melody of sorts, but this devolves into a droning soundtrack of malaise with some heavy bass coming in at times. Eventually it all grinds to a close.

The liner notes state that Dardis “wanted to create something slow and sinister, echoing the spreading malaise and sickness of the Trump administration. Something capturing the dread of the civilized world right now.” I read the liner notes after reviewing the track, and the fact that we both had used the idea of malaise demonstrates that he pulled this off. Beyond this, this would work well as a soundtrack for a black and white sci-fi dystopian film. If you like your stuff cinematic this would be well worth checking out. There's enough going on to keep this thing interesting over 40 minutes.