Great things grow from pushing the boundaries of creative disciplines. Since the early 2000’s, the Spanish filmmaker and visual artist, Carlos Casas, has done just this, gathering acclaim for a body of work which blurs the lines between documentary film, cinema, and contemporary art. Lingering within this expansive practice are Casas’ equally rich explorations of sound and music, appearing at even intervals over the last ten years. His latest, Mutia, issued by Matière Mémoire, the fantastic Belgian imprint that recently brought us Charlemagne Palestine’s Dingggdongggdinggg Vs. Singggsonggsinggg, raises an already high bar, sculpting a rich territory of imagistic ambience and intervention which takes the mind into another realm.

During the development of a recent film about the elephant graveyard myth, Carlos Casas began to imagine the sounds of the jungle and landscapes which would hide and protect such a thing. Working tactually, the process culminated with the construction of a series of soundscapes, comprised of atmospheric field recordings and radio frequencies captured during the work’s filming in Sri Lanka. Following the film’s completion, he decided to rework the sessions, in the process creating the expansive Mutia, attempting to capture the entire imaginary world which had underscored his process, inviting others to undertake the journey on their own.

Mutia opens a vast expanse of imagistic sound. Pulsing and abrading synthetic textures and tones, presenting fleeting glimpses of possible futures, ease against found sounds, radio frequencies, and recordings of the landscape and natural world, bristling with organic warmth. Conceptually fascinating, belonging to an entirely singular practice and way of working, Mutia sculpts a stunning sonic world entirely its own. Beautiful, challenging, and constructed with rare artistry and care, this is one to dive into head first.