Suumhow - 5ilth (2024)

By the title alone, it is easy to surmise that 5ilth is album number five by the Belgian experimental electronic music project Suumhow. The duo is known for their glitched-up, dirty, melodious "IDM". The album follows their previously hidden full-length, Extra Failed Items and finds the duo pushing their digital grittiness to new heights. Suumhow experimented with the limits of folding audio into analog video equipment for the album, further pushing the aural boundaries within the digital realm. As the title suggests, the sonics on 5ilth can be incredibly filthy, often recalling the pixelated equivalent of a sandstorm or locust plague. These monolithic moments of clipping and swirling 1s and 0s give way to warmer flashes of analog respite, and in some cases, the clipping itself is somehow shimmeringly melodic. As with their previous efforts, 5ilth features glitchy, distorted beatwork that pushes and pulls the listener through the squall. It's a gratifying listen with equal parts tribunal and reprieve, hold and release. Suumhow's music often combines bruising syncopated beat constructions with lush melancholic sceneries, created with audio-reactive visuals utilizing circuit-bent analog video synths. In addition to modular gear and a weakness for anything digitally corruptible, they are known for creating viscerally malfunctioning audio-visual live performances. 5ilth is out on October 25th on ultra clear vinyl, limited to 250 units worldwide.