Angels of Light — Everything is good here /Please come home

Michael Gira. That name alone is enough to arise fond memories in many music lovers mind. Is there any “underground” music genre that came up since the eighties that has not been influenced by the man’s work? Probably not. Gira has done everything: industrial, “dark”-rock, gothic, experimental electronics, post-rock to name but a few. After the demise of The Swans, he started The Angels of light. Everything is good here / Please come home is their third album.

This album is released on Gira’s very own Young God Records, home of truly exciting music (you just have to check out Devendra Banhart, Ulan Bator and Larsen – review here).

I had been quite disappointed by their previous album, How I loved you. Good album if it had been written by anyone but Gira (just like Nocturama is a minor Nick Cave album). Everything come back to normal on this one.  A few of the tracks already appeared on  Michael Gira 2001 solo acoustic CD in their most “naked” form: guitar and voice (and what a voice).  Here, they appear in a more ornamented way: voice, guitars, harmonica, piano, lap steel, organ, dulcimer, trombone, trumpet, violin... Any instrument needed to convey the right mood is summoned.

In some interview, Gira said that The Angels of light sounded the way The Swans would have sounded hadn’t they disbanded. And The Swans are an obvious comparison. With The Angels of light, you get the same feeling of an empty desolated, dark cathedral full of emotion. The songs go from very quiet pieces to much more agitated bits, with Gira screaming as if he was possessed, crushed by the emotion. As ever, the lyrics are beautiful, Gira’s style isn’t matched by many of his contemporaries (I particularly like “Were you asleep in the chair, as the sound cracked in the air, and the scent of fire, drifted out through the hall?” from What you were).

Musically speaking, The angels of light could be described as being a 21st century folk band. All the contributors form an incredible unit, performing a music that is almost ritual, reaching spiritual heights. There is definitely something of Leonard Cohen,  Johnny Cash or Nick Cave with his Bad Seeds. Add to this Swan-esque atmospheres and you get an album that is at the same time very dark, demanding and incredibly enjoyable and thrilling.

Together with his album with Dan Matz (Windsor for the Derby), the latest Angels of Light album is here to prove that Gira hasn’t lost any of his song-writing abilities. Quite the contrary: he seems to get better with the day...