Blood Fountains — Floods

‘Floods’ is the last in a series of albums on the Utech label that are adorned with the dark, surreal artwork of Stephen Kasner, sleeve artist of choice for many of today’s so-called avant-metal musicians. But, unlike all other releases in the series (that includes work by Skullflower, Justin Broadrick and Runhild Gammelsæter) the sound here has also been recorded and mixed by the artist alongside a handful of select associates with the aim of translating paintings into musical concepts.

Seemingly culled from sessions of improvisation, the album’s six tracks feel very much like chapters of a single concept. Dominating the mix is fellow visual artist Yoshiko Ohara whose voice provides layered combinations of echoing, whispered incantations, circular, monosyllabic tones, and, for the most part, a steady but indecipherable chant. These pious and distinguished intonations create a strong sense of private ritual throughout the recordings. It is not hard to imagine the sessions conducted by candlelight in a dark, stone-walled room filled with burning incense where attempts to invoke hidden forces are methodically cast. The other players complement Ohara’s mantra but are sometimes masked by its force. Guitarist David Beaver who also runs Circle 9, a fine art publisher responsible for many of Kasner’s prints and his recent monograph, provides the peaks and troughs – his overdriven, metallic guitar steadily spills out crescendoing chords whose sustained wake adds much ambience to the compositions. Elsewhere, he creates a more melodious, bell-like sound that peals overhead introducing a celestial light to the proceedings. Further layers are contributed by Cheryl Pyle, a classically-trained composer, whose flute is used sparingly yet evocatively to subtly breathe an ethereal breeze, while Mat Edwards funereal bass keeps everyone’s contributions aligned with a strong, deliberate, slow pulse.

In ‘Floods’ Stephen Kasner has forged a sound that unsurprisingly befits his paintings. However, the brain is always adept at processing sound and image together, allowing one to resonate the other (and vice versa) such that any one of the nine albums making up Utech’s fine art series could provide just as suitable accompaniments to each other’s covers. So with ‘Floods’ it is the unexpected perceived differences to Kasner’s visual art that is the most intriguing. While his images consistently map a cosmology populated by macabre creations from the deeper recesses of the psyche, the music is not so much scary as devout – a shrine built with a mere handful of tools. But in reverence to what you might ask?