And Also the Trees "Mother-of-pearl Moon" (2024)

Mother-of-pearl Moon

release date: Feb. 23, 2024

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]

producer: Matthew Devenish

label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 2. "The Whaler" (4 / 5) - 3. "Town Square" - 4. "Mother-of-pearl Moon" - 5. "This Path Through the Meadow" - 6. "Valdrada" - 8. "Visions of a Stray" - 9. "Field After Field" - 10. "Ypsilon"

[ album playlist ]

16th studio album by And Also the Trees follows 1½ years after The Bone Carver (Sep. 2023) and is like that made with producer Matthew Devenish and to the usual procedure the album is released on the band's own label.

The album shows a will to explore stylistic ground anew, and in that regard this new collection of songs differ from the band's most recent releases, which have all shown a stronger audible bond to the band's origins in a gothic rock setting. Mother-of-Pearl Moon invites us on a more mellow and subtle type of transport, which is both like a movement through different familiar places as well as a journey through time - and not as such back to the 1980s as much as much further back to another Century. Songwriter Simon Jones shapes these poetic pieces with his dark vocal as centre structure coloured by delicate percussion, bass and strings, which takes us through ancient European landscapes, often inspired by an atmosphere you would be likely to locate to 19th Century Paris or London. Originally, the band expressed itself with excessive theatrical postures - the link to a world of plays still lures on all tracks but in a much more refined manner provoking to your stolen attention, because the music cannot lie when it opens up and reveal its true nature. And that's a truly remarkable and fascinating creature they have come up with this time.

Mother-of-pearl Moon is no less than a great release from one of Britain's underestimated acts.

Highly recommended.

[ SputnikMusic 4 / 5 stars ]

[ bandcamp ]

Chelsea Wolfe "She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She" (2024)

She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She

release date: Feb. 9, 2024

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,95]

producer: Dave Sitek

label: Loma Vista - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Whispers in the Echo Chamber" - 3. "Everything Turns Blue" - 5. "The Liminal" - 6. "Eyes Like Nightshade" - 8. "Unseen World"

7th studio album by Chelsea Wolfe following Birth of Violence (Sep. 2019) is her first album on Loma Vista and it also introduces a certain change in producer-collaboration as most of her former releases were mostle made with co-composer Ben Chisholm, who remains as one her stable collaborators (since 2012) together with drummer Jess Gowrie and mastering engineer Heba Kadry (both since 2017).

A new producer and a new label doesn't mean much new, though. And despite the fact that Wolfe has been influenced by various styles, this new collection of songs still stand with feets buried in a darkwave arena. That said, Wolfe has often sought to colour her songs from new perspectives - with twists of electronica, stronger influnced by / or with the absense of industrial rock, and in that sense her new album doesn't appear as something entirely different. Wolfe belongs to the dark - no doubt about that, and she usually makes her songs with Chisholm - here credited as co-composer, keyboardist and for drum programming. And especially the drum aspect is what basically makes this a different breed than her (brighter) 2019-album. Drums are up-front, energetic pulsating, and attract attention on an album that takes Wolfe back on an industrial, electronic path of dark colours.

The album has mostly been met by acclaim as an original output from an innovative artist, who never seem to walk on already known paths. To me, it doesn't quite invite me in, and I think my reluctant stance has to do with the incoherency I find on the album. It's both strongly electronic with synths and programming providing a new side-step to her darkwave tones, and at the same time it bonds with industrial rock - it wants to be 'hard', and then Wolfe has makes attempts pop-imagery, nicely placed hooks of sweetness, which makes it difficult to digest. It's like, she tries too hard to make her music grandiose and by that she unfortunately also loses contact with authenticity. Is it a spicy treat, or, just a light dessert? I dunno!! And the different flavours do not meet one another that well, I think. And ultimately, Wolfe has been better.

[ 😮allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Exclaim! 4 / 5, Pitchfork 7,6 / 10, Uncut 3,5 / 5, 👉PopMatters 3 / 5 stars ]

Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter "Saved!" (2023)

SAVED! [debut]

release date: Oct. 20, 2023

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 2 / 5] [1,88]

producer: 'Brother' Seth Manchester

label: Perpetual Flame Ministries - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "All of My Friends Are Going to Hell"

Studio album debut as Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter (aka Kristin Hayter), who released four full-length albums from 2017 to 2021 under the name of Lingua Ignota - the final album being Sinner Get Ready (Aug. 2021). SAVED! is like her recent releases on the Sargent House label engineered by (now: 'Brother') Seth Manchester. Hayter's Lingua Ignota project was centered around a neo-classical darkwave style with obvious bonds to the music by Diamanda Galás, whereas the change of project-name signals a change of style. Musically, Hayter still makes anything but ordinary pop music - SAVED! has been labelled 'Southern Gospel' and / or 'Appalachian Music', but in any case it's still highly experimental and bonded to darkwave. The album consists of 11 tracks, which are all arranged, recorded, and mixed as if stemming from early twentieth century recordings. Instrumentally, it's quite simple with banjo and piano as only other dominating instruments apart from Hayter's lamenting vocal, which is much less aggressive than her albums as Lingua Ignota, and the production and mixing aspects quite obviously seek to present the music as recorded on a cheap ancient device of some sort. Deliberately, the volume goes up and down, there are cut-ups and fall-outs in sound, and everything is kept as an amateur's first take.

Regardless making music as this or that project, Hayter seems determined to explore Christian holy scriptures, and on this she examines the theme of salvation. The album has been met by critical acclaim, despite speaking to an extremely cult-like audience. From the reviews I've read it appears that critics agree on describing the music here as extreme, with little variation, and as challenging. Critics also note Hayter's artistic determination to stand out and go her very own way, which in some cases stand in the way of actually dealing with musical qualities as such. I find that only few actually describe the music they hear on this as beautiful, delicate, majestic, whatever. Appealing would suffice but that is hardly the point because it's not. Hayter is put in a 'holy' and exclusive category, where form over matter is all there is. In any case, it is an extremely coherent album, and that's of course a positive trait, but there are no tracks on this that will satisfy a hope of finding music you would want as background music for dancing, resting, or for an intimate dinner for two - I guess, this is where the term challenging enters the description. And hey, it's really not intimate at all, and it doesn't scream sing-along potential! In fact, imho, and at best, I find it extreme... but mostly also extremely dreadful. 👉This is form over matter, it's the Emperor's new clothes and there's no way, I'll recommend this!👈

[ The Line of Best Fit, Uncut 4 / 5, Pitchfork 7,5 / 10, Exclaim 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Scatterbrain "Keep Dancing" (1981)

Keep Dancing [debut]

release date: Aug. 1981

format: vinyl (IRMG 3) / digital (10 x File, FLAC) (2005 remaster)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]

producer: Scatterbrain, Anders Lind

label: Irmgardz... / Glorious Records - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Neo-Love Tango" - 3. "Vatican Reggae" - 4. "Crosses of Verdun" - 6. "Ice Age" - 8. "Insect Danger" - 10. "Keep Dancing!"

Studio album debut by Danish band Scatterbrain originally released on Irmgardz... The band here consists of founding members Jesper Siberg on vocals, keyboards & electronic percussion, Hilmer Hassig on guitars & synths, Jens Erik Mose on bass & synths, and Morten Torp on vocals & synths. Despite only releasing two albums, Scatterbrain has quite a substantial legacy in Danish music history, where the band stands as forerunners and as the first actual synth-rock band coming out on the punk rock scene.

In retrospect, the band appears influenced by Joy division and to what was perceived as a growing art punk scene at the time counting artist like Magazine, Visage, Gary Numan, and Ultravox and apart from these musical contemporaries it also seems that artists like King Crimson, Brian Eno, and Kraftwerk should be included amongst the band's natural sources of inspiration. This also include inspiration from artistic ideas of visual arts and authors, and Scatterbrain build on cold war politics and a de-humanisation of society, which is also reflected in some of the aforementioned artists' music (with bonds to David Bowie and Lou Reed) and also a similar starting point of contemporary Danish author Michael Strunge and his poetry, e.g. "Skrigerne" (1980) and "Vi folder drømmens faner ud" (1981).

Keep Dancing came out to positive reviews but the band and its music didn't attract a wider audience and Scatterbrain was first and foremost a cult-like band. In retrospect, however, Keep dancing and the band's second album Mountains Go Rhythmic (1984) both stands as highly original releases with the debut as an album that has found status as a cornerstone in modern Danish rock-history.

At the time, I came across the debut and I kept an illegal copy of the record, which I both found challenging but also quite fascinating and unforgettable, although, I also saw it as strange and too experimental for my liking. Many years later, as of 2023, I got hold of the original vinyl issue, and it's definitely an album to know of.

Recommended.

And Also the Trees "The Bone Carver" (2022)

The Bone Carver

release date: Sep. 9, 2022

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]

producer: Matthew Devenish

label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "In a Bed in Yugoslavia" (official video) - 2. "Beyond Action and Reaction" - 4. "The Girl Who Walks the City" - 5. "The Book Burners" - 7. "Another Town Another Face" - 8. "Last of the Larkspurs" - 9. "The Bone Carver"

15th studio album by And Also the Trees following 6½ years after Born Into the Waves (Mar. 2016). The album doesn't actually mention producer credits but suffice to mention recording engineer Matthew Devenish, who have worked with the band as mixer and recording engineer since the making of Further From the Truth (2003). The band's bassist since (Listen For) The Rag and Bone Man (2007) Ian Jenkins has here been replaced by Grant Gordon.

Stylewise, this is yet another darkwave-founded release as the natural follow-up to the band's last two albums. It adds a few more fine tracks to a long list of compositions that are linked to an original gothic rock scene of the 80s without sounding as if recorded back then, but the band doesn't exactly hand us a bunch of challening new material, and in that way it has become increasingly more difficult to tell their recent albums from one another. In one way, it's a band that positively stays true to its original sound and then neither seems to be really interested in artistic progression. Another positive side to it, is the quality of the songs, as it appears without any fillers.

Still, The Bone Carver is a worthwhile listen.

Lisa Gerrard & Jules Maxwell "Burn" (2021)

Burn

release date: May 7, 2021

format: digital (7 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,04]

producer: James Chapman

label: Atlantic Curve - nationality: Australia / Northern Ireland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Heleali (The Sea Will Rise)" - 2. "Noyalain (Burn)" - 3. "Deshta (Forever)" - 5. "Orion (The Weary Huntsman)" - 6. "Keson (Until My Strength Returns)"

Collaborative project between Australian Lisa Gerrard and Northern Irishman Jules Maxwell, with the latter acting as live keyboardist on several occasions in Gerrard and Brendan Perry's duo project Dead Can Dance after their reformation in 2012. The album has a duration of only 35 minutes and consists of seven compositions with running lengths from four to six minutes. Gerrard alone is credited five tracks, while two tracks (#2 and #3) are composed by Gerrard and Maxwell in collaboration.

Musically, it's neo-classical with influence from darkwave, world music, and with hints from electronica, just as it has been the case with other works by Gerrard, e.g. The Silver Tree (2006) and which has charachterised releases by Dead Can Dance. Burn is, however, something else. The rhythm sections are shaped solely by programming or by bass and synth-bass with Gerrard singing on all tracks in an unknown or indistinct language - her very own metaphysical language, where her voice only functions on an instrumental level. That said, it's quite a sonorous, distinctive, and powerful instrument Gerrard possesses. She blends her alto voice beautifully in and out of progressive rhythmic loops and occasionally swings her vocal up into higher spheres clothed in mysticism of the East and sometimes with a well-developed technique taken from the scene of opera. Multi-instrumentalist Jules Maxwell adds rhythm, electronics, synth-bass, and grandiosity in appropriate measure and otherwise lets the music unfold in beautiful harmony with Gerrard as guiding instrumentalist.

It's original, beautiful, unpretentious, and yet wide-ranging. Since the early eighties, Gerrard has been responsible for strong original releases with Dead Can Dance - together with Hans Zimmer, she created the musical counterpart to the cinematic side of "Gladiator" (2000), and she has generally become an acclaimed soundtrack composer for a long series of films starting with soundtracks under the name Dead Can Dance back in '89 for the film "El niño de la luna" (aka "Moon Child" - not released as a soundtrack until 2019). They gained more recognition with their music for Ron Fricke's remarkable "Baraka" (1992), after which they released several soundtracks. As soloist, Gerrard first collaborated with Pieter Bourke on the music for "The Insider" by Michael Mann in 1999, and most recently in 2017 she and Peter Orr stood behind the soundtrack to "2:22" by Paul Currie. Gerrard has been nominated for dozens of international awards and she has received around 10 major awards for her work as a composer.

Burn is a certified gem of an album that should find wider recognition. Highly recommended!

[ Gaffa.dk 5 / 6 stars ]

2021 Favourite releases: 1. Mogwai As the Love Continues - 2. Thåström Dom som skiner - 3. Lisa Gerrard &
Jules Maxwell Burn

Lingua Ignota "Sinner Get Ready" (2021)

Sinner Get Ready

release date: Aug. 6, 2021

format: digital (9 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]

producer: Kristin Hayter

label: Sargent House - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "I Who Bend the Tall Grasses" - 4. "Pennsylvania Furnance" (4 / 5) - 6. "The Sacres Linament of Judgement" - 7. "Perpetual Flame of Centralia" - 8. "Man Is Like a Spring Flower" - 9. "The Solitary Brethren of Ephrata"

4th studio album by Lingua Ignota (aka Kristin Hayter) following two years after Caligula (Jul. 2019) is once again with Hayter herself in multiple roles as technical staff, photographer, and producer. The album is partially made in collaboration with sound engineer and producer Seth Manchester, but otherwise it's exclusively Hayter as vocalist, instrumentalist, and composer. As Lingua Ignota she continues in the apocalyptic style with a less hard-hitting industrial tone than what characterised the predecessor, and instead there is room for a greater musical scope, which suits her expression. Additional stylistic features creep in from traditional folk, Americana, experimental music mixed with pervasive classical notes. On a first listen, it may sound a much like produced on the same thematic pot, but where she focused on Satan on her previous album, she now confronts God and blind believers. The lyrics revolve around Christian liturgy, sin, punishment, death, revenge, and to a lesser extent, the theme of forgiveness.

The album has generally been met by positive reviews, much like Caligula did. If you're not familiar with Lingua Ignota, it might be a bit of a frightening acquaintance at first with her obvious fascination for hard-hitting thrash metal and the death metal realm, but if you're able to stay in the intrusive brutal darkness, you may notice how other tones are present and open up. It's in the counterplay between the beauty and the ugly that Hayter moves confrontationally in and out of moods. Under the moniker of Lingua Ignota, Hayter released her debut album Let the Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him via bandcamp.com in Feb. 2017, and already with the follow-up All Bitches Die (Jun. 2017) just five months later, she had become an international name. The album Caligula from 2019 is her first with a record company to back her up. She is trained in classical music, and stylistically, she skilfully mix elements from experimental popular music with classical music and thus has a natural kinship with Diamanda Galás. Both play with the brutal confrontation with Christian ideals in experimental classical processing. Here, you'll also find links to more recent neoclassical music such as Chelsea Wolfe and Swedish artist Anna von Hausswolff, who both experiment with a mix of popular music, and especially darkwave style, with classical compositions and furthermore exploit tensions between beauty and ugly. Hayter still sounds like no one else, because she is also an artist who seems more deeply rooted in alternative noise styles and more experimental approaches.

I can easily imagine Lingua Ignota as a highly original and fascinating artist, but focusing purely on the music product, her expression with strong bonds to a thrash metal and black metal scene then places Hayter in the periphery of what I basically understand works as good music.

However, Sinner Get Ready is Hayter's most nuanced and complex album and it's definitely worth to know.

Recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ Gaffa.dk 6 / 6, Pitchfork, The Guardian, PopMatters 4 / 5 stars ]

Anna von Hausswolff "All Thoughts Fly" (2020)

All Thoughts Fly

udgivet: Sep. 25, 2020

format: digital (7 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,85]

producer: Anna von Hausswolff, Filip Leyman

label: Southern Lord - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Theatre of Nature" - 2. "Dolore di Orsini" - 3. "Sacro Bosco" (officiel video) - 6. "All Thoughts Fly" - 7. "Outside the Gate (for Bruna)"

5th studio album by Swedish organist Anna von Hausswolff, who has now switched to the admirable label Southern Lord. The album follows 2½ years after Dead Magic (Mar. 2018) and it includes seven instrumentals, which have been created in a combination of live recordings and post-production with the addition of electronic instruments. The live element is Anna von Hausswollf on a large (German) baroque organ in Örgryte Nya Kyrka, Gothenburg, and the entire work is based on sensory impressions that von Hausswolff experienced in releation to her visit at the Parco dei Mostri, also named Sacro Bosco (and Villa delle Meraviglie), the remarkable 16th-century Baroque park in Bomarzo, Lazio, Italy, from which the front cover photo was taken with von Hausswolff in the mouth of the meter-high head L'Orco.

It's not an album where you find von Hausswolff looking for new paths - not that she needs to - her music is most original, kept in her well-known experimental, neoclassical darkwave. The simple post-production leaves the music quite bare, where you get a clear sense of the pompous power of the organ. These are progressive compositions that slowly indicate a beauty side by side with a darkness that both evokes a sensation of security but which also may be perceived as gloomy - completely in line with the history of the Baroque garden.

All Thoughts Fly is an almost peerless work and nothing less than Anna von Hauswolff's best to date.

Highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com, SputnikMusic 4,5 / 5, New Noise 5 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 7,7 / 10 stars ]

Siouxsie and the Banshees "Voices on the Air (The Peel Sessions)" (2006)

Voices on the Air (The Peel Sessions) (compilation)

release date: Oct. 23, 2006

format: cd

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]

producer: diverse

label: Polydor / Universal / BBC - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: (1. session, 29/11/79): 1. "Love in a Void" (anden liveoptræden '79) - 2. "Mirage" - 3. "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)" - (2. session, 6/2/78): 5. "Hong Kong Garden" - 6. "Overground" - 7. "Carcass" - 8. "Helter / Skelter" - (3. session, 9/4/79): 10. "Playground Twist" - 11. "Regal Zone" - (4. session, 10/2/81): 13. "Halloween" - 14. "Voodoo Dolly" - 16. "Into the Light" - (5. session, 21/1/86): 17. "Candyman" - 19. "Lands End"

Compilation album by Siouxsie and the Banshees from Polydor / Universal who just keep finding material to issue with a band they didn't see as commercial enough while active on the label. Here, however, it's not another best of, which looks like many others but a collective work of all the band's appearances on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show over the years from 1977 to 1986. The John Peel Sessions is a legendary radio show existing from 1967 until Peel's death in 2004, and it includes more than 4,000 recordings by more than 2,000 artists. The album here comprises a total of 19 tracks spread over five appearances, where the only two regulars from all five recordings are vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin. The first three sessions, Nov. 29, 1977 (tracks #1-4), Feb. 6, 1978 (tracks #5-8), and Apr. 9, 1979 (tracks #9-12) respectively, sees John McKay on guitar and Kenny Morris on drums. The fourth session recorded 10/2-1981 (tracks #13-16) is with John McGeogh on guitar and Budgie on drums, and the fifth and final session Jan. 21, 1986 (tracks #17-19) is with John Valentine Carruthers on guitar.

It's mainly the band's earlier period you'll find documented here - with only three tracks are taken from the band's seventh album, Tinderbox (1986), the remaining 16 tracks (apart from one track by The Creatures) may be found in studio versions on the band's first four albums.

Voices on the Air (The Peel Sessions) is obviously a collector's item, as the recordings have not previously been broadcast together. The band's first Peel Session was independently released as an ep in '87 (on cd in '89), the second session released in '89 - both are collected on a compilation from '91.

The album is fine musical historic release, virtually showcasing the band before any label had a contract ready, and with the BBC's limited sound studio with a single sound track available, it's really the documentation of pure rawness, white noise, and electric energy flowing from one of the most notable British bands who instantly managed the progression from punk rock and into the wider scene of post-punk.

The album is dedicated BBC radio presenter John Peel (1939-2004) and producer John Walters (1938-2001, who was producer on many Peel Sessions, but not on the tracks on the album mentioned here).

From the band's BBC performances, there also exists a later rather extensive 3 CD + 1 DVD box set (with around 85 tracks), Siouxsie and the Banshees at the BBC released in 2009, which in addition to the five Peel Sessions also includes other radio-broadcast concerts and television appearances.

Recommended connoisseurs.

[ 👍allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Lingua Ignota "Wicked Game" (2018) (single)

Wicked Game, single

release date: Aug. 7, 2020

format: digital (1 x File, FLAC)

[single rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]

producer: Kristin Hayter

label: Sargent House - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "Wicked Game"

Single release by Lingua Ignota issued via her new label Sargent House is one of several covers Kristin Hayter has recorded in the wake of the album's success with Caligula (2019). An all-covers album has been rumoured in the process but so far she has released singles in 2020 of "Jolene" (Dolly Parton), "Kim" (Eminem), and then this one by Chris Isaak as digital download singles only. Most recently in the series of covers, a 4-track ep, Agnus Dei, consisting of two covers of extreme black metal / grindcore and two compositions by Händel and J.S. Bach, respectively, was released in Feb. 2021.

"Wicked Game" has already been immortalised in its original version and through several fine covers, but Lingua Ignota's version is undoubtedly another that should be remembered. It's made with great respect of the original expression and tone, and still Hayter has nonetheless shaped it according to her own musical expression. She has managed to add another layer of desolation to the song without her regular use of black metal, throat singing, and metal noise. There is no doubt, however, who stands beind this version, and one can only guess that a great future could await Hayter if she would dare to throw off the brutal black-heavy noise in order to establish herself further as an artist. At least she shows a fine example of that right here.

[ bandcamp ]

Lingua Ignota "Caligula" (2019)

Caligula

release date: Jul. 19, 2019

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]

producer: Kristin Hayter

label: Profound Lore - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Do You Doubt Me Traitor" - 4. "May Failure Be Your Noose" - 5. "Fragrant Is My Many Flower'd Crown" - 9. "Spite Alone Holds Me Aloft"

3rd studio album by Lingua Ignota follows two years after her self-released international breakthrough All Bitches Die. The album is released on Profound Lore and features Kristin Hayter as songwriter, composer, instrumentalist, singer, photographer, and as producer, just as was the case on her two previous albums.

With this, Hayter refers to the dark time as partner in a long-lasting violent relationship, which she uses here to direct the general focus on. Central to the tracks are motifs such as (violent) revenge in the form of satanic brutal forces. Or perhaps rather: the prince of darkness himself as the righteous (?) avenger of violence against women. The brutality is drawn out through all eleven tracks, which have a total running time of 66 minutes, but in a refined way, where Hayter performs in slow ceremonial lamentation as well as extreme experimental noise-metal - and with throat singing, where her screams take on the form of apocalyptic dimensions.

The album garnered good reviews and ended up on several lists including the year's best albums, and Hayter herself has been highlighted as one of today's most remarkable musicians.

It's difficult to point to outstanding or especially distinguished tracks on Caligula because the compositions offer such unique melodic structures that it makes just as much sense to compare them with parts of classical works. Hayter mixes styles and genres like a painter mixes colors. There is classical or neoclassical music, folk - as in traditional folk music - you'll find metal - as in industrial metal and there is experimental noise metal and more nuanced darkwave. The album is her most complex work to date, which is not only either gentle or brutal. In places it's calm, quiet, soothing and elaborated. And it contains beautiful passages, yet it's mostly black on black. It's music formulated in capital letters BLACK. And, like her two previous albums, it's still quite fascinating. Even for someone who doesn't care much for death metal or related styles like black metal. I don't care about Slipknot, Korn, Metallica, Iron Maiden, etc., but Hayter is as attractive as car headlights to a deer: Scary, fascinating, and something that you deep down just know you should stay far far away from, yet you're gravitated towards it. I'm not a fan, but I can easily sense quality underneath a disturbing surface.

[ Footnote: and yes, Hayter actually has "Caligula" tattooed across her chest ]

Recommended? For a listen or two: Definitely! For multiple full spins: No way!

[ bandcamp ]

[ 👎Gaffa.dk 6 / 6, PopMatters 4,5 / 5, Soundvenue 5 / 6, Pitchfork, The Guardian 4 / 5, 👍Blabbermouth 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Dead Can Dance "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun" (1987)

Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
release date: Jul. 27, 1987
format: cd (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Dead Can Dance, John A. Rivers
label: 4AD Records - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Anywhere Out of the World" - 3. "In the Wake of Adversity" - 5. "Dawn of the Iconoclast" - 6. "Cantara" - 7. "Summoning of the Muse"

3rd studio album by the duo-project Dead Can Dance following 1½ years after the fine Spleen and Ideal and much like that, this is also produced by the duo in collaboration with John A. Rivers.

The album marks the continued journey within the duo's own stylistic soundscape of neo-classical darkwave and with a subtle addition of electronica. It's pompous and it's ethereal without the dreampop-sound that shaped the debut from '84. This is lighter and more simple without audible electric guitars - instead, it employs keyboards, synths, dulcimer, and classical orchestra representation by organ, strings, oboe, and brass.

Compared to the predecessor, there's a stronger emphasis on classical instrumentation on this as well as more simple compositions with a progressive ambient touch.

Another recommended release from the duo.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Dead Can Dance "Spleen and Ideal" (1985)

Spleen and Ideal
release date: Nov. 1985
format: vinyl (CAD 512) / cd (1986 reissue) / cd (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Dead Can Dance & John A. Rivers
label: 4AD Records - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "De profundis (Out of the Depths of Sorrow)" - 2. "Ascension" - 4. "The Cardinal Sin" - 5. "Mesmerism" - 6. "Enigma of the Absolute" - 7. "Advent" - 8. "Avatar" - 9. "Indoctrination (A Design for Living)"

2nd studio album by Australian neo-classical darkwave band Dead Can Dance, who at this point have been reduced to a duo consisting of singer, drummer & percussionist Lisa Gerrard (who would later become an acclaimed film composer) and British multi-instrumentalist Brendan Perry. The album consists of nine compositions with varied durations from approx. 3 minutes to the album's longest track "The Cardinal Sin" of approx. 5½ minutes, and with a total running length of just 38 minutes.

In terms of style, the music here can only poorly be compared to other contemporary releases. In its time it fell under the category of post-punk, which it really never was. I think the closest critics could rightly describe the style as was gothic rock and experimental rock - perhaps with a touch of art rock, but seen from a music historical perspective it's nothing less than a modern cornerstone, which has only gained greater recognition over time. It's difficult, and perhaps impossible, to imagine contemporary works by artists such as Jocelyn Pook and Anna von Hausswolff, but also Chelsea Wolfe and Lingua Ignota, and basically: the whole wave of contemporary artists in neo-classical darkwave without pointing to the legacy of Dead Can Dance and perhaps this album in particular.

I purchased Spleen and Ideal on vinyl back in the mid-80s without having any knowledge of the band or of the music they played. All I knew was that 4AD Records put out music with super-interesting names and pretty original artists, and the band oozed that particular post-punk edge that (to me) connected them to bands like Bauhaus, Modern English, This Mortail Coil, and Joy Division (which admittedly came out on Factory Records). However, I also remember the first time I listened to the album and was really disappointed. It wasn't at all like the other bands I knew of. And it wasn't even close to some of the ones mentioned here. I tried repeatedly to listen to the album but always ended up putting something else on. Luckily, I kept the album, although in the late 80s and early 90s I got into a really bad habit of selling off early 80s albums that I didn't listen much to in order to finance newer music with a stronger appeal.

When I finally re-listened to Spleen and Ideal again in the 2010s it was like a sheer revelation. How could I have failed to understand the obvious qualities of this very album?! No, it doesn't sound like anything else from the early or late 80s - except subsequent albums by Dead Can Dance. It's enchanting and beautiful music sounding like timeless tones that call for a kind of ceremonial gathering. The beauty of it is that you can simultaneously let it fill you without thinking about cultural or religious boundaries. But above all, it's remarkable how little it shares with other music originating in the mid-80s.

Highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

[ collectors' item ]

Dead Can Dance "Dead Can Dance" (1984)

Dead Can Dance [debut]
release date: Feb. 27, 1984
format: cd (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]

producer: Dead Can Dance
label: 4AD / Warner Music Japan - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "The Fatal Impact" - 2. "The Trial" - 5. "Ocean" - 6. "East of Eden" - 10. "Musica Eternal"

Studio album debut by Australian, Melbourne-founded, band Dead Can Dance, who at this early point after having relocated to London, UK, consists of Lisa Gerrard, Brendan Perry, James Pinker, Scott Roger, and Peter (Lawrence) Ulrich. Already from the band's successor Spleen and Ideal (1985) and onwards, the band is constituted only by Gerrard and Perry.
Musically, it's quite difficult to narrow in as the style reflects a mix from many sources. The front cover alone - depicting the ancient artwork originating from Papua New Guinea sided by Greek letters tell us bits of their influences. There are dream pop-hauling electric guitars and likewise vocal performances with bold use of echo or delay effects, and then there's 'world'-like use of strong bass lines and percussion, which altogether makes it highly original by adding a gothic rock / ethereal darkwave sensation, although, that term wasn't even thought of at this point.
There are no credit-list available, only a back cover note stating: "A special thank-you to Ivo, Robin and Vaughan for all the interest they have shown." Ivo being Ivo Watts-Russell, one of the founders of 4AD Records, Robin being Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins (also associated with 4AD) - both Ivo and Guthrie were involved in the musical project, This Mortail Coil, which included Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance; and Vaughan being Vaughan Oliver, graphic designer at 4AD.
The album was released without much recognition in '84, but by passing the new Millenium and a bunch of artists engaged in neo-classical and / or darkwave-styles, Dead Can Dance and this album have attracted much more recognition, although, the band's style here is more linked with contemporary early '80s music - putting the band aside acts like Bauhaus, The Cure, Cocteau Twins and This Mortail Coil. With later (and more original) releases, Dead Can Dance would prove to make highly innovative and influential music.
Later in '84, both Gerrard and Perry represented the band on the debut album It'll End in Tears by the music collective, This Mortal Coil, led by 4AD founder, Ivo Watts-Russell.

Anna von Hausswolff "Dead Magic" (2018)

Dead Magic
release date: Mar. 2, 2018
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Randall Dunn
label: City Slang - nationality: Sweden

Tracklist: 1. "The Truth, the Glow, the Fall" - 2. "The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra" (live) - 3. "Ugly and Vengeful" (live) - 4. "The Marble Eye" - 5. "Källans återuppståndelse"

4th studio album by Anna von Hausswolff with new producer Randall Dunn builds on some of the same stylistic ingredients she revealed on her previous album, The Miraculous from 2015. The difference here, at a first listen, is the more lengthy compositions with two tracks above 10 minutes playing time and "just" 5 tracks in total, but it's also a collection of songs that sees the artist embrace elements from a huge variety of styles and genres. It's art pop, chamber pop, experimental rock, neoclassical darkwave and it's post rock, but without settling on one specific style - and that's a huge accomplishment as the end result - thanks to the original sound and the arrangements - is a very coherent yet extremely varied album.
The album was met by positive reviews, and once again places Anna von Hausswolff at the peak of her career with her so far finest release. What I really enjoy about this, is the inclusion of brighter and lighter pieces in her usually dark and sinister soundscape. It's not just the explorations of dark matter, but a journey through various musical landscapes that convey an uplifting sensation. Where her previous albums shared more with Diamanda Galás, she has now turned up more on her Kate Bush kinship - which really suits her sound.
Recommendable.
[ allmusic.com, Mojo and Q all hand it 4 / 5, PopMatters and SputnikMusic 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Sällskapet "Disparition" (2018)

Disparition

release date: Mar. 16, 2018

format: digital

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,15]

producer: Sällskapet

label: BMG Music - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights 2. "Morgenlicht" - 4. "Westerplatte" - 5. "L'autostrada"

3rd studio album by the Swedish duo-project Sällskapet and its first without founding member Joachim Thåström, who left guitarist Pelle Ossler and multi-instrumentalist Niklas Hellberg in 2015. Here, the two have composed nine new songs with German guest vocalist Andrea Schroeder, who is credited as songwriter of eight songs - track #4 is an instrumental, and Thåström appears as guest musician on two compositions. Scroeder has previously released three solo albums - all with titles and lyrics in English, and she plays a major role on Engle og dæmoner (2012) by Danish band Farmen, and she appears on Thåström's Centralmassivet (2017) with backing vocals on one song.

Musically, it's related to Nowy Port from 2013, although, the soundscape has lost some of the experimental bits and instead focused more on scarse instrumentation and melody-structure, which may be referred to as 'ambient-industrial', and then of course it makes a considerable change having German as vocal side. Schroeder's singing voice actually fits the dark arrangements nicely. Her alto coloured tone echoes the sound of Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich without sharing obvious original qualities but it adds a certain 'pop noir' quality, but the music tends to stay much on the same track throughout most of all 43 minutes, which makes it a bit of a bland experience.

Not all bad, but mostly interesting without breaking musical boundaries.

Trentemøller "Lost" (2013)

Lost

release date: Sep. 23, 2013

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]

producer: Anders Trentemøller

label: In My Room - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "The Dream" (feat. Low) - 2. "Gravity" (feat. Jana Hunter) - 3. "Still on Fire" - 4. "Candy Tongue" (feat. Marie Fisker) - 6. "Never Stop Running" (feat. Jonny Pierce) - 7. "River of Life" (feat. Ghost Society) - 9. "Come Undone" (feat. Kazu Makino) - 10. "Deceive" (feat. Sune Rose Wagner) (official video)

3rd studio album by Trentemøller follows 3½ years after Into the Great Wide Yonder and is like that produced by Trentemøller and released through his own label In My Room.

His previous releases, including the DJ Mix album Harbour Boat Trips 01 - Copenhagen by Trentemøller from 2009 all have the traits of deep house electronic experimental style, building heavily on progressive compositions and all held in a primarily instrumental style. This marks a complete turn-around with Lost as 7 out of 12 tracks are composed using more traditional melody structure with vocal performances and making it all touch on synth pop in darkwave territory. Anders Trentemøller is not well-known for his vocal capabilities and therefore he has made use of various featuring vocalists. The American artists Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker (both from the band Low) feature on vocals together with their band on track #1; American artist Jana Hunter is featuring vocalist on track #2 together with Danish guitarist Lisbet Fritze; Danish vocalist Marie Fisker adds vocals on track #4 - she also featured on Trantemøller's 2009 and 2010 albums - American vocalist Jonathan Pierce (of The Drums) feature on track #6; the Danish band Ghost Society feature on track #7; Japanese artist Kazu Makino is featuring vocalist on track #9; and Danish artist Sune Rose Wagner (of The Raveonettes) is featuring vocalist on track #10. All featuring vocalists are also credited the songwriting on the songs, on which they feature.

Lost marks a considerable change of style in Trentemøller's discography. The album is not a strong coherent whole - some of his instrumental compositions could without difficulty have been included on his previous albums without stirring the whole picture, and here they could be mistaken for sound artefacts or just misplaced intermissions, but on the other hand they also contribute in binding together the various and differently sounding compositions with vocals - or at least: attempting to glue the strictly individual songs into one artistic package.

Altogether, Lost is no less than Trentemøller's so far most succesful album.

Recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com, UnderTheRader 4 / 5, TheLineOfBestFit 8,5 / 10, Pitchfork 6.4 / 10 stars ]

And Also the Trees "Born Into the Waves" (2016)

Born Into the Waves
release date: Mar. 18, 2016
format: cd (AATTCD08)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: self-produced
label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Your Guess" - 2. "Hawksmoor & the Savage" (4 / 5) - 3. "Winter Sea" - 4. "Seasons & the Storms" - 5. "The Sleepers" - 6. "Bridges" - 10. "The Skeins of Love"

14th studio album by And Also the Trees is yet another self-released album. The cover info only mentions recording, mastering, and mixing credits - Justin Jones (of the band) and Matthew Devenish recorded the album [the latter also handled mixing]. The band formed some 38 years ago - only two members remain from the original line-up, the brothers Jones, vocalist Simon Huw and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Justin. On this the two form a quartet with bassist Ian Jenkins and drummer Paul Hill, which means that keyboardist Emer Brizzolara apparently has left the band since the predecessor Hunter Not the Hunted from 2012.
The style is unchanged from the 2012 release, which implies quiet somber alt. rock with focus on narration, and I like it. In fact, I think it's the best album by the band in some 30 years reaching back to 1989 and Farewell to the Shade. I really think this band has evolved quite nicely over the decades. After the strong start in the '80s with strong bonds to the gothic rock of post-punk they took a long time in finding the expression, at times mixing with this and that, and then in the new millennium they sort of found their sound. They always had that particular strong relation to ancient British prose and poetry. And in the past it sometimes took an almost theatrical biased path too strongly, and at times with excessive use of strong dynamics. Now, the gloomy narration remains, underlined by Simon Jones' dark vocal and a like-wise dark and baroque instrumentation - but what sounded forced in the past with string arrangements and horns has now turned into beauty because of a wiser approach with a more scarce instrumentation. The music blends and supports the stories, which are half prose and half poetry. It truly deserves more attention.
Recommended.

Sällskapet "Nowy Port" (2013)

Nowy Port
release date: Apr. 10, 2013
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,92]
producer: Sällskapet
label: Razzia Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 4. "Bagatelle" - 9. "Del 2" - 10. "Rött liguriskt vin"

2nd studio album by Swedish trio Sällskapet - here on the new, independent Swedish label Razzia. The album succeeds the debut album Sällskapet with six years but musically, it follows quite closely on a similar path with Joakim Thåström as vocalist, Pelle Ossler on guitar, bass and piano, and with Niklas Hellberg on keyboard, synthesizer and programming.
Where the debut appeared lighter and with more focus on the electronic side, this contains clear experimental pieces and elements of darkwave, which is also underlined by featuring Swedish artist Anna von Hausswolff, who contributes with vocals on track #4. The title track is pointing towards the industrial rock genre, but apart from that the compositions are rather slow progressive works of minimal wave and darkwave.
Where the debut contained original and interesting compositions, I think, this disappoints by its more obscure sound experiments - like music that may fit some artistic video instalments rather than being a musical release only.
Joakim Thåström left the band reduced to a duo in 2015, and he was replaced by guest vocalist Andrea Schroeder on the band's third album Disparition (2018).
Not recommended.

And Also the Trees "Hunter Not the Hunted" (2012)

Hunter Not the Hunted
release date: Mar. 26, 2012
format: cd (AATTCD08)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: AATT
label: AATT - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Only" (4 / 5) ( live ) - 2. "Hunter Not the Hunted" - 7. "The Woman on the Estuary" - 8. "What's Lost Finds" - 12. "Angel, Devil, Man and Beast"

13th studio album by And Also the Trees is another self-released and self-produced album, which is the continued (good) style from their 2007 release, (Listen For) The Rag and Bone Man only with a more alt rock, folk rock element in the gloomy tristesse. Before this they released two acoustic albums with Driftwood (2011) as the most recent. Two albums that possibly made the band understand how powerful their back catalog is without keyboards and synths to express musical dynamics, and those experiences have helped shaping this album, I think.