All Shadows And Deliveranc​e — Voices

Sometimes, when something is presented to me in beautiful packaging, I hesitate to actually listen to it. What if its shit? It changes from a thing of beauty, into a thing of beauty with a nasty surprise inside. So, somehow, All Shadows And Deliverance have jacked straight into my brain and produced a mini-cdr, in a clear mini-dvd case, with a nicely drawn inlay (black metal style), printed in black on clear, frosted plastic. Beautiful. So my eyes are charmed, but what about my ears?

There’s two tracks here: the first short, the second long - about four minutes and sixteen minutes respectively. “Threnody”, the shorter, starts with the looped sound of a breath, and then patiently builds up layers of bass, crackle and fizz around that breath; before finally smothering it and then dying out altogether. The looped breath remains the only constant. It works as a nicely timed little introduction to the second track, though maybe it could have built up further…

“Operatic Voices” begins with rattling sounds - somewhere between rainfall and rock-fall - these multiply and become increasingly agitated, with washes of treble being added to the mix. After about four minutes, a series of drones enter. If they’re not actually vocal drones, they certainly have a vocal quality. Its at this point on the cdr where I feel the sounds finally come alive: the slowly swirling drones really ground and solidify the track, allowing the wheezes and gusts to dance around them. A stumbling vocal sound enters, buried in the drone, and is joined by trebly clatter and something approximating an operatic voice. I’m curious to know what this sample/loop is - it sounds “musical”, but its very mournful and stressed… (Dictionary definition of “threnody”: “a poem, speech, or song of lamentation, especially for the dead; dirge; funeral song.”) More layers of drone emerge and dominate the track; initially having a “spacey” feel, but over time becoming cold and menacing. Its in these final four minutes or so, that “Operatic Voices” finally takes off, creeping into a suffocating wall of drone, with the mournful vocal still present, but increasingly smothered. After peaking, the drone elements drop out, leaving just the echoing vocal and clatter…

So, does it deliver the promise of the packaging? Probably not, alas. It isn’t a recording that relies on violence or noise; its aim appears to be more the creation of an atmosphere or tone, so thats how I’m judging it. The two points where the sounds come together nicely, around the droning elements, are solid enough, and the whole cdr is quite nicely paced; but I feel that in terms of atmosphere it doesn’t quite reach the blackened eeriness I’d hoped for.