From a celestial land comes forth, BAUME, a post-black metal project from France. The band formed in 2017 and has put out three EPs since then, their recent entitled, "Un Calme Entre Les Tempêtes" which came out April of this year. This three track release is an interestingly complex creation that involves most of what used to be black metal in more of a modern electrical and experimental fashion. The project is produced by one person, and though the instrumentation could be seen as repetitive and simple, the kinds of synthetic incorporations are fascinatingly imaginative and impressive. However, I am still left in wonder what are 'real' instruments and what are 'generated' sounds. Parts of the album feel a bit too much like popular culture that make it hard for me to grasp the rawness of the piece. Though experimental, it seems at times too much so, where genuineness is lost and is replaced by electricity rather than plotted motions.

"I. Rien Ne Dure" begins atmospheric with strange low synths in a wind-like buzz. As this fades, other electronic notes are added and there is a pulsating rhythmic beat similar to hip hop, and sounds quite generated. It is an instrumental piece, as in, it does not have spoken words. Ethereal high pitched music flows over the notes, and a louder version of this is recreated in somberness, and is additionally layered. It is quite noise for the rest of the track once the tempo and elements are structured. It becomes dissociated after a while, and low bass notes explode in a darkened fashion. A vibration moves past the ear, and a combination of various electronic synths are randomly constructed. As the piece detaches once more, the noises change in rhythm and the beat becomes faster. It seems as though the experimental electronics are caught between two ideas writhing to one location and another. Suddenly, the noise halts and the melodies dissipate with only a beating drum and a bass leftovers. The ending portion of the track is as if nature  twitched with electric hums and somewhat beautiful synths.

"II. Un Calme Entre Les Tempêtes" features a heavy bass with popping synth notes with a high pitched melody. This piece has an understanding of abstractness in its melodic and creepy synths. A low voice is introduced. He is speaking ideas that blend with one another, and this voice makes the piece turn to a seductive and masculine manner. It sounds as though I could hear bits of whispering conversations, though this could be the air through the sounds. The melody is soft. The breakdown is electrically charged and continue these kinder notes. It is high pitched, as someone runs from a nightmare during the blackish hours. Sounds repeat, and the tone is ancestral but built in modernity. As the man becomes louder and more fluid, the background notes get stronger. There are some shifts in the melodic setup where the drums change a bit and the synths move slightly. There is a breakdown where the voice is at the center of the piece, and when it flows out into the ordinary, the sounds become chaotically complicated. There is some tremolo picking throughout the song, yet I am not sure if this is generated synths or instrumentation.

"III. Octobre" is different than the previous tracks, and is not the strongest track from the EP. The start of the track includes a type of wind-like noise or air flowing through the piece. The guitars or synths begin to decide where to go transverse to, and echoed synths are introduced. There is a slow drumming. This turns toward a drum beat that was more present in the first track, and quite pop-like. A certain chaos goes in and out of a conscious state, and the notes are meaningless. It feels as though a song one would hear in a fast-fashion store. Changes in the song are swift, and the notes go to a darker outlet than they had before, without as many layers. Guitars repeat notes. But this occurs quite abruptly, and renders itself to be awkward as it is the center of attention yet does not deserve to be this way. The track then goes back towards the outlet it started in, with a shaking beat. Blast beats change quite often, and synths are surprisingly soft. The track ends in a creepy and out of place manner that feels as though it is not as well produced as the other two tracks.

BAUME's "Un Calme Entre Les Tempêtes" is a production that is well rooted in the intangible nature of electronic and experimental music with slight touches of the ideas in black metal - but this is not as apparent. Throughout the EP, one can hear a sort of placid chaos in the ways graceful synths are exceedingly layered on top of one another, so much so, that it is hard to decipher a true melody at times. The voice only comes through in the middle track, and I had wished there was more of a voice in other tracks as it adds a specific feeling to the song or album. This could have been a means to keep the tracks grounded and rooted in a very specific atmospheric setting. Though the tracks might not feel genuine, as all are created in a technological creation, it is quite complex and interestingly comprehendible. These tracks have piqued my interests.