Hypnopazuzu — Create Christ, Sailor Boy
The departure from Tibet's recent output is clear from the first minute of album opener Your Eyes in the Skittle Hills as waves of Moog synthesizer, strings and percussion open up a broad vista of drama with Tibet squarely at the centre. Reinier van Houdt's austere piano on I am the Last of All the Field That Fell was never a good setting for Tibet's voice and lyrics. The personal dramaturgy and cosmic scope were mostly lost on that occasion, but not here. All the songs are roughly at the same tempo with the exception of The Crow at Play which adds sitar and a driving tabla rhythm to give the song a rather manic eastern tinge. Overall it just sounds huge with drum rolls and walls of strings and synths providing the stage for the vocals which are performed by Tibet in a remarkable fashion somewhere between singing, chanting and political oratory as if he were quite literally shouting down the gods. There's a hint of autotune on his voice which does wonders for bringing the whole mix together into a coherent whole. When the synths or strings change key so does Tibet. It's a wonder no one has thought to do this before!
Christmas with the Channellers is one of several songs with a length in excess of seven minutes. Building at an almost doom metal pace with minimal drums and surging orchestral crescendos Youth's compositions seem designed to squeeze every drop of pathos out of Tibet's performance. He tracks every peak and trough as if being tossed upon waves. Three standout tracks are at the centre of the record withThe Crow at Play possibly the album highlight. It's a welcome change of tempo from the record's often funereal pace allowing Tibet full licence to spit, croon and serenade prophetic as the tabla rhythms and sitar drones swirl around. The drone and distortion led The Sex of Stars is more elegiac and reaching with the vocals pushed back into the mix. A simple keyboard melody helps maintain the atmosphere of catharsis and melancholia with Tibet intoning "Will I ever see you again?" while the distortion soars.
Magog at the Maypole is the most traditionally composed song here with its chanted chorus "Neither coming now going but what is shall be". I say traditional but even here the wall of moog, strings and effects is enough to leave your head spinning. The last third of the album contains fewer highlights with the songs repeating earlier tricks. Pinocchio's Handjob is another slow string and synth heavy number which doesn't quite come together as well as the earlier pieces, while The Auras are Escaping into the Forest is quite an attractive electronic piece with Michael Rendall's Moog offering up some of its unmistakable otherworldly sounds as Tibet chants a passage in Akkadian taken from the epic of Gilgamesh. It does perhaps cross a little too much into overtly new age territory but if you've got this far you're unlikely to be put out.
In truth the sonic pallet is quite samey throughout the record. But when the execution is this full-on, the passion and pure psychedelic glory of it all is enough to carry you through. Comparisons could be drawn with Current 93's Island record from 1991 made with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson in Iceland which had a similarly widescreen quality about it, or the records around the Swastikas for Noddy era. Certainly it's the most electronic record Tibet has done in a very long time. There is not a hint of restraint anywhere to be found with Youth producing what is surely a unique item in his discography. Michael Rendall's contribution is a similarly welcome reminder of what a well played analogue synth can add to a record, especially one determined to scale the heights of wigged out psychedelia. For Tibet it's a vocal tour-de-force stridently proclaiming his place as one of avant-garde music's most unique and powerful performers. Surprisingly brilliant stuff!