How difficult can it be to categorize a post. The answer is: quite.

Umfeld as a project lies somewhere between the realm of film and music video. Its abstract, musical roots put it in the same league as Autechre's Gantz Graf video. Its length and structure are reminiscent of Koyaanisqatsi. Umfeld is a project that draws heavily on the sound, but is visualized in such a way that it plays like a movie. And above all, it's just insanely awesome.

When reviewing a movie, you can go on about storylines and actors and interpretations etc. Reviewing Umfeld is a tad more difficult. The film has little else than a soundtrack and abstract visuals. That is literally it. In between the abstract images you can make out some concrete objects like buildings and factories, end of story.

The film thrives on the synergy between the music and the visuals, and that's where it truly excels. A music video like Gantz Graf makes the music accessible by toning down the visual intensity and showing an abstract figure reacting to the music. Umfeld is way more complex than that, as almost all frames consist of visuals layered on top of each other, morphing and twisting and bulging away. By doing this, the visuals give little aid in placing the music, but at the same time it makes it more of a film.

Umfeld really is a project where the music feeds on the visuals, and the visuals are enhanced by the music. It a perfect merge between two media that complement each other wonderfully.

That is not to say Umfeld is perfect. When looking at both aspects separately, improvements could be made. While the music is strong and emotive, there are better artists out there to handle the glitchy, distorted ambient set underneath the visuals. The music is constructed by Speedy J, a techno natural, who does miss the class of an artist like Richard Devine when creating obscure, dark soundscapes. Though Paap himself admits that the project misses some subtlety, I'm not quite sure he's the best person fit for this kind of work.

In the same way, the visuals feel a tad too random at times. The coherence is sometimes lost which is a shame in this kind of project. It would've been nicer if the film had featured a naturally evolving one hour song with matching visuals. Now, the moments when switched between segments stick out and do take you out of the film for a short moment.

That said, there's nothing like Umfeld, which makes it a great milestone project. There's nothing out there that matches the experience of 56 minutes of abstract ambient glitches tailored to morphing abstract visuals. Hope this catches on, so we might see more and better. Until that time, this will remain one of my favorite films, deserving a solid 5*/5*.

Don't miss the Umfeld trailer. If you want a real taste of the film, the DVD image can actually be downloaded (legally) for free from the Umfeld website. What more do you want?