What does Mileece sound like?

Computer music and phone dial tones turned into lullabies.

The review of ‘Foundations’ by Mileece

I love stumbling across albums that are seemingly lost gems, decades later. They’re like treasure chests that invite you in and are happy to put on a show for new ears and hearts. Mileece released ‘Foundations’ back in 2002. Whilst Mileece has gone on to explore sound design in nature and art over the last 25 years, she’s never released an album since. That marks ‘Foundations’ out as a curious entry into a lifelong artistic career. It’s a shame in many ways, as it’s a careful and clever tonal ambient album.

At five tracks and 44 minutes, the album uses voice, cello, and electronics to create a sound that is incredibly simple on the surface, but has a lot going on underneath. Take the 13-minute opener ‘Aube’, for example. The electronics tap away like a digitalised music box. Taps occasionally burst in and out with different volumes, catching you by surprise. It is aural and glassy, but it also reminds me of phone dial tones being turned into a melodic suite. It’s an odd reference, but I’m also reminded of Otograph’s PixelJunk Monsters soundtracks that came nearly a decade after this release.

The dial tone glows turn into something more skittish and glitchy with ‘Foundations’. This eight-minute piece uses the static prick of each note to create a cloud of percussive computer tones like skipping stones. Everything here is electronic, but it has an organic hue to it. As the travel develops, glassy synth tails ring off of the spaghetti junction of noise. The bleeps continue to speed up like a cloud formation into a hedonistic, blissful finale. ‘Tridi’ is a short interlude piece that sounds the most like a music box, at least initially. The lower notes are twisted into a sizzled gurgle. ‘Fern’ introduces a deep tone and a few other instruments into the mix. The bubbling gurgle of music-box-like dial tones still leads the way, but now we’ve got under-ice water bubbles, vinyl static, and the gentle pluck of cello strings. It sounds like a tiny world. Miniscule, at times. Not long after halfway, a metallic triangle “ting” signals the tracks left turn into ambient drone. Bird song, strange water trickles, and distant synth organs call out as if we’ve plunged into an underwater forest. It’s a lovely, imaginative soundscape to explore, and headphones are recommended.

That brings us to the finale, ‘Nightfall’. It opens with Mileece’s breath and the scurrying of fabric on microphones before the dial tone electronics return. Is the breath slow and restful because the person is asleep? I think it is. Mileece sings the words ‘sleep’ and ‘dream’ over the comforting noise of deep breaths, dial tones, vinyl static, and soft cello. As the same tonal riff repeats, it becomes hypnotic, sending the listener into dreamland. The track is officially 15 minutes long, but it ends around the 9-minute mark. There’s about 90 seconds of silence before a bonus hidden track of dissonant, dischordant dial tone bleeps returns. They ring out like hand bells, but the melody they ring is a maddening, evil-clown tune.

‘Foundations’ is such a strange album. Mileece takes one instrument and tonal quality and turns it into a meditative, strangely angelic and uplifting collection of bleeps and clinks. This is for fans of sound design, first and foremost. I can also see drone music, modular synths, and music box fans getting a lot out of this album, too. I love that Mileece committed to the sound and concept of computer music as a lullaby. It sounds like a lullaby, even if that bonus track is a little off-kilter and eerie. ‘Foundations’ will celebrate its 25th birthday next year. It deserves a lot more attention when it hits that milestone.

Recommended track: Formations

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