AMN Reviews: Various Artists – Music For Haunted Asylums (2023; Eighth Tower Records)

Over the last 70 years there has been a movement in many countries called deinstitutionalization, which aims to transfer people with mental challenges and illnesses out of large, long-term psychiatric hospitals and into community-based care settings. This shift was driven by concerns about the inhumane conditions and practices in some of these asylums, the advent of more effective psychotropic drugs, a recognition that institutional social isolation was actually harmful to patients’ mental health, and a desire to promote these patients’ rights and autonomy. As a consequence, most asylums have been remodeled and repurposed, or remain abandoned. The latter are effectively haunted houses.

Leave it to Eight Tower Records to explore such settings in musical form. A compilation of works from experimental artists from around the world who employ drones, field recordings, and electroacoustic elements, Music For Haunted Asylums is a compelling release for anyone who appreciates a touch of horror with their ambiance.

The general approach of these tracks is hazy, synth-laden drones accompanied by various effects and noises that combine to create an eerie and unsettling atmosphere. Case in point, insectarium’s Tx Plan and Kloob’s Enclosed Murmurs are both based on textural static, slow and deep synth chording, and oscillating waves. The deliberate pacing and breathy passages only add to the otherworldly minimalism.

Other high points include SÍLENÍ’s Lunacy and Mombi Yuleman’s Beyond The White Room. The former employs cello-like drones with airy overtones. The latter’s ominous synth resembles haunting voices calling from a distance, then builds into layers of sweeping tones. Barbed Asylum from Vyormouth is the longest piece at 17 minutes. Its rumbling bass and slow chording accentuate a wide variety of effects and environmental noises in the foreground.

Music For Haunted Asylums is a remarkably coherent release, with contributions from 14 artists each a consistent rendering of the overall thematic direction of the compilation.