Banabila returns with a second LP release on Knekelhuis. The renowned Dutch producer is up there among the stars when it comes to ambient music and the so-called ‘fourth world’ legacy. On this eleven-track album, we witness soul-wrenching, kraut-tinted, and early-yet-modernist electronics.

Coming from his heart, these imaginative recordings center around otherworldly voices – fictional characters chanting in a made-up language, imbued with a captivating spirit, transcending linguistic barriers. Through remarkable complexity and technique, 'Unspeakable Visions' is full of sonic textures, together evoking a layered, emotional arc.

While the track 'Rattles' still references the artist's first album on Knekelhuis, 'Echo Transformations', the style of most other tracks departs towards an intriguing new mix of both pop-infused songs and gloomy abstraction, balancing between a sense of anticipation and desolation. (Luke Cohlen, May 2024)


Reviews / Quotes:

AMBIENTBLOG:
Shortly after Michel Banabila dropped The Unreal Realm, he’s back with a new album titled Unspeakable Visions. This new album shows a completely different side of Banabila‘s music, demonstrating his musical versatility.
Unspeakable Visions is his second release on the Amsterdam-based Knekelhuis – a label ‘motivated by conflict and surprise, [releasing music that’s] as alien as it is familiar, as bodily as it is soulful, as bizarre as it is beautiful’.

Unspeakable Visions perfectly fits this description. The (eleven) tracks are relatively short this time – most are under five minutes. All are created around manipulated vocal samples, some of which can be recognized from his earlier work or live performances. It feels as if these samples come from about every corner of the world, but I assume Banabila created most of them – if not all – himself.
Paired with fitting instrumental arrangements, the tracks range from evoking fourth-world atmospheres to ambient soundscapes and lively rhythmic patterns.

While his early influences from Eno & Byrne’s “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” and the spirit of Jon Hassell can still be discerned, Banabila has sculpted his own personal style over the past four decades. His evolution has birthed a genre-defying sound that’s instantly identifiable and impossible to replicate. Unspeakable Visions presents the kind of music that only Michel Banabila himself can create. (Peter van Cooten)

MOORS MAGAZINE:
'Deze muziek moet je de tijd gunnen, en vaak beluisteren zodat het de tijd heeft om zich helemaal voor je te ontvouwen. Magistrale muziek' (Holly Moors)

VITAL WEEKLY:
'It’s melodic, rhythmic and delightful, but it’s also very ambient, very atmospheric, dark at times, and not something I would call pop music (but what do I know about / Banabila’s music is richly textured with sounds; there’s always something going, moving from one part of the world to another, worlds connecting, Stockhausen’s ‘Telemusik’ meeting Eno / Bynre's ‘My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts’, if you get my drift. / Another excellent record, but that’s no surprise; the man has a consistent, high-quality music catalogue, and if the name is new to you, well worth investigating if you are into melodic and rhythmic atmospheric music. (FdW)

REACH.SOUND:
I’m smitten by this latest album for Knekelhuis: adventurous and playfully experimental electronica, chopped and diced up into a genuinely eclectic medley, this album reminds me of a kind of photomontage of me finding some of my early favourite albums on labels like Idle Hands, Warp, or Peak Oil (way back when they released early music from Strategy).

There’s a clear blue vein of Krautrock influence flowing throughout Unspeakable Visions, as well as the thread of some aspects of spiritualised ambient music, and yet there’s not really any particular moment on the record than belongs solely to these labels. Banabila seems to have tuned a radio station to the global frequency of the Earth, and subtly edited vocal intrusions in all sorts of languages are found here and there throughout the album.

If you dig the planet-bound stargazing of Koyil, Jon Hassel, or Misha Sultan, this will be right up your street; organic and unhurried, there’s so much space to unwind on these compositions. Rattle rasps out of a flute above dank, curious basslines, while Little Star twinkles just so, fractioned guitar shimmering over gloriously relaxing swells. I’ve sunk into it repeatedly, and always find myself coming out of a stupor when it all stops, and suddenly the world sounds less comforting. (Freddie Hudson)

THE ANSWER IS IN THE BEAT:
Artificial voices, singing and speaking in an invented language. The deconstructed gibberish words flow through soundscapes which are sometimes mysterious (“Darker and Darker”) and other times are just straight up playful (opener “Viva Voce”). “Little Star” seems like it can only be described as an alien lullaby. (Paul Simpson)

OOR:
Banabila is tegenwoordig een veelgevraagd leverancier aan theater- en tv-producties. Wie Unspeakable Visions hoort, snapt dat laatste direct. Alles draait om sfeer in zijn wonderlijk losse composities. Het resultaat klinkt beurtelings meditatief en wonderschoon / Deze ga ik vast ook weer grijsdraaien. Ambient voor gesloten ogen en een open hart. (René Passet)