Die Abschaffung Der Arten

Die Abschaffung Der Arten, or The Abolition Of Species, is a dystopian novel written by speculative fiction author Dietmar Dath. Published in 2008, it was also turned into a hörspiel, or radio drama, soon after, with a soundtrack provided by Mouse On Mars. The triple-disc set features the full ten-hour hörspiel over two MP3 discs, plus a third disc of the soundtrack only. In a career of curiosities, this is a particularly fascinating set from Mouse On Mars – working with guest musicians on strings, and Vietnamese musician Hai Phuong on đàn tranh, a plucked zither, it’s an extended driftwork, and counter to their tendency to overload the sonic spectrum, there’s far more space to breathe here – a necessity, really, given the music’s purpose as supporting act for the radio drama. But it’s full of particularly MOM-ian twists and turns, with screwy electronics winding around acoustic instrumentation, leading the musicians into mythic battles with their denatured shadow selves (plus some surprisingly straight, untempered passages), sometimes resolving into lilting, clattering mantras, as on “pherinfonprozession”.