Press release:

Latest project featuring Andrea Marutti (Afe Records, Amon, Never Known, Hall of Mirrors with Giuseppe Verticchio / Nimh), Sil Muir also features Andrea Ferraris, an italian musician coming from the hardcore and experimental scenes. Together, they create some beautiful guitar-based ambient/drone soundscapes... Add Horchata's refined deep ambient layers and here you are!

Reviews:

"[...] Taâlem is the imprint for 3" CD-R releases of a more droney nature. Like Drone Records 7" series, this is a long running enterprise, now up to number 54. They are usually released in series of three. The first is a collaboration between Michael Palace, also known as Horchata, and Sil Muir being Andrea Ferraris (all guitars) and Andrea Marutti (all treatments). It seems that Horchata delivered the raw material, Ferraris added some more guitar and that Marutti did the overall sound design. Two great pieces of dark atmospheric drone music. Nothing new, but very very dark and elegant."
Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly, November 2008

"...the first track, "Ahnedonia" is immense. The only words I can use to describe it are graceful industrial. Not industrial that hits you over the head with pounding rhythms and noisy guitars, but slow and building. At times giving the feeling of being in a cavernous relentless vibration. Track two, "Time Dilation" has guitars that reverberate and slink. The guitars coupled with the ambient effects rush toward you like a tidal wave of sound. A good example of what artists can achieve through collaboration. On their own each would have been a passable release, together they present layers of guitars enriched by ambient sound scapes, giving a stimulating aural exercise."
Viktorya, Heathen Harvest, May 2009

"Con colpevole ritardo recensisco questo CD 3", che da tanto tempo staziona tra le pile di dischi in "heavy rotation", ma di cui non avevo mai scritto per la mia ormai cronica svogliatezza. Sil Muir è un duo con Andrea Marutti (boss di Afe e autore di una infinità di dischi sotto diversi nomi, tra cui Amon) e il "nostro" Andrea Ferraris, combo di cui avevo già parlato in occasione del disco "Play To BN Chora. Judgement"; in questa occasione le chitarre di Ferraris sono state manipolate e ricomposte da Marutti, per costruire due brani a loro volta rielaborati da Horchata, ovvero Micheal Palace, altro nome noto nel circolo ambient-drone. Nonostante un ulteriore intervento sulla musica rispetto al lavoro del duo, la sostanza non si è allontanata comunque di molto dall'altro disco di cui sopra: le trame sono appena meno scure, ma i droni di chitarra non sono per nulla solari e l'andamento dei due pezzi è così rallentato da tendere all'estatico, effetto che è ben bilanciato con i colori cupi e rende l'ascolto interessante; il suono è molto curato, scolpito e levigato nei minimi particolari, e anche il mastering è di qualità, infatti il risultato sonoro complessivo è davvero di buon livello."
Emiliano Grigis, Sodapop, September 2009

"I never listened to Horchata (Michael Palace) before, whereas Andrea Marutti and Andrea Ferraris a.k.a. Sil Muir (here credited with guitars and treatments) are known quantities on these shores. Two purring tracks are featured: "Ahnedonia" is pretty much worn out, a rather superficial drone based upon extensive reverberations and nebulous non-manifestations, similar to thousands of equally insignificant other pieces in this field. "Time Dilation" is unquestionably better, the pulsation of the harmonics definitely more gripping, the atmospheric qualities on another level - almost excellent, I'd say. It makes me feel like dreaming of a dirigible's hum. Too bad for the echoing clicks entering the scene after a while, the whirring alone was enough.
Massimo Ricci, Temporary Fault, September 2009

Sil Muir is the brand-new ambient constellation consisting of guitarist Andrea Ferraris and veteran sound manipulator Andrea Marutti. Together they have conjured four grand, huge blocks of dark grey slate, while working away at them exposing every fissure and delving deep into each crack, perhaps best exemplified in the dominating track, aptly named "We Don't Need Time, We're Already in Eternity". Comparisons with the patient craft of Thomas Köner are not amiss. On "Light at 4:48", a flash of nostalgia occurs as the guitar rises up and briefly bays at the moon, calling to mind the guitar-and-treatment experiment "(No Pussyfooting)" by Robert Fripp and Brian Eno. Into desolation is injected an almost pastoral sense of nighttime. In anticipation of the official release of the CD in its handsome cardboard packaging, Horchata (Michael Palace) was given access to the tapes and provided a remix taster on a three-inch Taalem CD-R. "Ahnedonia" (sic) sounds like a distant orchestra tuning up as quietly as it can so as to not wake the sleeping audience. "Time Dilation" is a great deal more ominous, the sound of technology decommissioned, a sputnik turned off, no longer beeping regularly, wobbled out of orbit and aimlessly adrift "in eternity". Ocassionally it reflects the errant light off some sun, but this is only a false sign of life. Both editions are wonderful examples of dark ambient with a soul.
Stephen Fruitman, Sonomu, November 2009