Album Review: Multiforms: Ambient Transmissions Vol. 3 by Marconi Union

Mancunian ambient group Marconi Union return on the 12th of June with new album Multiforms: Ambient Tramissions Vol. 3. Their Ambient Transmissions album series was established in 2011 but hasn’t been continued in over a decade. The series’ previous instalment, Weightless: Ambient Transmissions Vol. 2 (2012) became famous for its scientifically proven relaxing effect – it hit the mainstream and still dominates Marconi Union’s streaming statistics. It’s a big album to follow up on, especially after so much time has passed.

But Multiforms never feels weighed down by the pressures of legacy. Marconi Union seem impressively unbothered about notoriety or numbers (which also means you can still see them in some brilliantly unique small venues). This sense of clear-eyed vision for their work, unfazed by outside influences, leads to a crisp feeling of certainty across this minimalist album. It’s a deliciously pared-back, uncrowded ambient record. 

Opening softly, ‘Multiform I’ rises slowly into an airy, ringing crescendo. This track is soft, summery and viscous, with no sense of hurry. A piano melody gradually brings the pace out of its melty slowness, accompanied by hushed vocals. Then the texture is siphoned out again near the end of its eight-minute runtime, almost fading away completely. 

‘Multiform II’ has a murkier tone behind its gently oscillating opening hum. When the melody appears, each sparse note takes on a melancholy significance, almost bell-like as they echo through the instrumental mist. An occasional burst of notes close together produces a springy, shivery feeling of delight. Then a faint crackling brings us from ‘II’ into ‘III’. ‘III’ is more lively from the start, with a pricking, pattering piano rhythm. While this is, evidently, electronic music, there’s something very natural about the textures, the way different elements slide in and out of focus. The hazy edges and soft undulations across the entire album have the tranquil quality of cloud watching, and the melodies dip in and out like birdsong. 

The same echoey sounds are carried into ‘Multiform IV’, but with a soft bass heartbeat that keeps things moving. A wriggling background rhythm threatens to turn this into a much more upbeat song, but is kept at a restrained lower volume, so the soft, sliding synth sounds still swallow most of the soundspace. Another simple yet precise piano melody rotates slowly as the song builds. This track contains one of my favourite sonic moments, too, as a delicious guitar twang enters the texture. It’s the perfect extra layer, and the careful restraint shown across the album really highlights the subtle delight of each individual sound. 

A purposeful rise in volume in the opening shimmer of ‘Multiform V’ creates a definite sense of anticipation. This is an expansive track, layered with murky, orchestral stretched notes. A stark synth rhythm stands against near-silence for a few repetitions, before being softened by a hushing, liquid melody and another subtle hint of vocals – although this time, it feels less like harmonising than musical breathing. 

The volume drops again as the album seeps into ‘Multiform VI’, its final track. It’s an unhurried goodbye, its opening notes longingly sustained. The sound deepens as piano chords ring through the foreground. There’s a soft, mournful woodwind texture to the long notes that begin to slide over it, embodying a sense of natural calm that builds and then drops to a final lull. I relistened to this last track a few times, thinking I’d heard a subtle birdsong sample and trying to place it. Finally, I realised it was coming from outside my own window. The music had become so immersive that it seemed to swallow and interpret the ambience of the room around me. 

While each of Multiforms’ musical moments are intricate in their own right, there’s never a hard line of separation as the album moves from one track into the next. Multiforms’ release is accompanied by a full-length visualiser, which forgoes overt demarcations between each track. Instead, swirling patterns of hazy greyscale blurs are overlaid with bright, clear coloured shapes as we move through each new sound. Near the end of the album, the visualiser opens into full colour, staring through deep oranges, somewhere between a lens flare and a forest fire. 

There’s another visual aspect at play with the title Multiforms, which references a group of late-1940s paintings by Mark Rothko. Predating the huge, inscrutable rectangles that Rothko is most known for, the Multiforms are softer and more liquid. Hazy colours drift into fleeting blips. There is a similar lack of harsh division in Multiforms: Ambient Transmissions Vol 3 – the album’s six tracks, simply titled ‘Multiforms I’ through to ‘Multiforms VI’, blur into each other smoothly, the paint still wet. 

This album is immensely precise, showing a deep, intuitive understanding of what makes ambient work. Yet it’s never flashy or overly self-conscious; you can simply relax into the deep, shimmering textures. As we approach the longest days of the year, this album is perfect for thick, introspective afternoons when the air moves slowly. 

Words by Rowan Morrow