Betimes Black Cloudmasses
vhf#111 Æthenor Betimes Black Cloudmasses LP/CD
Highly-anticipated second album from the trio of Vincent De Roguin (Shora), Stephen O'Malley (Sunn0))), KTL) and Daniel O'Sullivan (Guapo). Like their genre and audience-confounding debut “Deep In Ocean Sunk the Lamp of Light,” “Betimes” is an atmospheric, constantly changing piece that encompasses a mind-boggling array of different performance and processing techniques. The deeply psychedelic and affecting results present a soundstage that is continually evolving, with new elements entering and leaving the fray every couple of seconds. Betimes includes significant contributions from free percussionists Nicolas Field and Alex Babel, who sprinkle the sound field with an almost FMP-style rush of splattering drum sound, raising the intensity of the music (without resorting to bashing). Betimes also features a brief but perfect vocal from Ulver mastermind Kristoffer Rygg, who will make his first live appearance in over a decade when Æthenor plays the Roadburn festival in April 2008. Æthenor’s third LP, featuring vocals and lyrics by David Tibet, will be released in Autumn 2008.
“Musically, Æthenor summon the most somnolent examples of Bernard Parmegiani, Organum, Nurse with Wound, Klaus Schulze, Igor Wakhevitch, Coil, Iancu Dumitrescu and Charlemagne Palestine. Acousmatic drones ebb and flow into crackling and bubbling sonic clusters. Lulling piano motifs and lamenting chants shimmer into distant lunar horizons while oscillators spin and drove serenely into unchartered audial regions. Sometimes as calm as a silvery sea, so that every gentle cat's-paw and lapping wave is deafening. Sometimes as tempestuous as a fuming lava beach, spitting and popping at the surface.” - Daniel O'Sullivan
Available April 2008
posted by D::OS:: at 11:42 AM
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