This Music Greets Death is a sublime electronic record by Russian artist HMOT

Who? HMOT, also known as Stas Sharifullinn, a Russian producer, music teacher, co-founder and co-curator of the Siberian-raised, Moscow-based electronic label Klammklang, together with Julia Sharifullina.

What? This Music Greets Death, HMOT’s ambient 10-track debut album, written between 2014 and 2021. Half of the tracks are collabs with other electronic music producers, including Rupert Clervaux, Nikolay Kozlov, Perila, Zurkas Tepla, and Sharifullina.

What they say: “This is a record about the horizon of possibilities,” says HMOT. “Here, death signifies a new beginning, a clean slate, the starting point for discussion. We’ve gotten this far and everything has gone wrong — where do we go from here?” adds Adam Badí Donoval from the record label, Warm Winters Ltd.

Why you should listen: The ambient album marries post-industrial sounds, nature, and mysticism. It starts off with Revolution 0, which features poetry read aloud by Rupert Clervaux to restrained, melodic notes — with a hazy accompanying video by Elina Bolshenkova. As the album title might suggest, This Music Greets Death, alternates between the soothing and sublime: while Fake Feathers tunes into the rhythms of nature by recalling water droplets and birdsong, tracks like Hell is You, Yourself and Climb Higher build a powerful sacral mood.

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