One Leg One Eye — And Take the Black Worm With Me
Formed in 2021 by Ian Lynch (Lankum), One Leg One Eye has been the side project that allows him to experiment and explore different musical paths. Rooted in the sound of second-wave black metal, And Take The Black Worm With Me is a massive departure from what Lynch has previously recorded with Lankum. Merging found sounds and field recordings with drones and black metal vocals, And Take the Black Worm With Me is a unique-sounding record. The album features Ian on hurdy gurdy, uillean pipes, synth, vocals shruti box, concertina, guitar, found sounds and tapes, alongside Laurie Sue Shanaman on vocals and Ruth Clinton on church organ
The album opens with “Glistening, She Emerges”, after a gentle beginning with the sounds of lapping against the hull of a boat, the song slowly starts to take shape. Firstly, we are presented with a nice relaxing ambient drone track that slowly begins to change into something altogether darker before fading back to where it began. “Bold And Undaunted Youth” is up next and after some clean folk-style vocals get things underway, various drones are introduced. This one is a perfect blend of folk and dark ambient that sprawls across its epic thirteen-minute length. “I’d Rather Be Tending My Sheep” follows perfectly with more of the same folk-style vocals that signified “Bold and Undaunted Youth”, with some sparse drones that build slowly over the track’s 10-minute-plus length. “The Fancy Cannot Cheat So Well” comes next at just over six minutes long; it’s one of the shorter tracks on the album and features several found sounds over the top of a monotonous drone. It’s a little different to what has gone before it, but it still fits. “Only the Diceys” brings the album to a close with a haunting vocal track and a guitar that reminds me of David Lynch's music or even Sparklehorse.
The album is at times bleak and mysterious, with the occasional nod to Ian Lynch’s position as a member of Lankum, however, there is rawness that is reminiscent of second-wave black metal that is evident throughout. The CD version of the album features a bonus track, “Sympathetic Invertebrate Ritual” which may be my personal favourite. After starting with some spoken word samples talking about the grandeur of Ireland, it becomes a somewhat glitchy drone track with spoken word samples throughout. It’s a really interesting listen, exploring organic sounds, samples and electronics to create something unique.
The album was originally released in Ireland as a very limited one-time-only release; however, this new Cold Spring release is well worth taking the time to get to know with its bonus track and the rather lovely artwork that emblazons the digipak sleeve. Overall, this is a very good dark ambient/ folk album that deserves to be listened to by fans of such music.