The press release description of the album aims rather high, in that they compare the music to Karlheinz Stockhausen, Popul Vuh and Godspeed You Black Emperor. It may not be the band’s fault, maybe they had nothing to do with the description, but it is far from accurate. To be fair, there is a shade of GYBE influence, evident only through the use of samples birds, children’s voice, water, police radio, etc.

The music is not as inherently musical as GYBE or Popul Vuh in that it is more about stasis, rather than peaks and valleys. The three pieces offered here manage to churn up a bit of atmosphere, but just sit there, not really leading any particular direction. This is a problem because there seems to be a real effort here to create a cinematic effect.

These pieces feel like a bunch of elements that are forced together in an attempt to create some sort of imaginary visualization. It’s akin to a director setting up a perfect scene, getting an interesting camera angle, wonderful art direction, but ignoring the content of the scene about to be filmed. A perfect case of style over substance.

It’s unlikely that you’ll hate Prisca Sapientia, and it’s just as unlikely that you’ll love it. It’s a noble effort, which just seems to be a bit under developed. Perhaps their next album will be more distinctive.