The April Sessions is a four-track vinyl release that feels like a heady blend of Coil, and less manic-more creepy side of Current 93’s early output. It’s a release that falls somewhere between tautly ritual electro-acoustic jamming, subtle unsettling and surreal spoken word, and electro-glitched post-industrial ambient texturing. 

The release brings together a selection of known/ interesting figures- we have Anthony Moore who founded avant-pop group Slapp Happy with Peter Blegvad and Dagmar Krause, before going onto work with Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson in avantgarde/art-rock group Henry Cow. Since the 70’s he’s put out eight solo albums, along with composing soundtracks for  few experimental films. Next, there is sound artist, musician and curator Dirk Specht- working with likes of 40 Sekunden Ohne Gewicht, Kunstkopf, NooK, The Missing Present Band, Therapeutische Hörgruppe Köln. Lastly, there is Tobias Grewenig who studied at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. He primarily deals with non-linearity in his audio-visual installation works and performances, including projects with the artist group Therapeutische Hörgruppe Köln, the ensemble The Knob, The Finger & The It and the improvisation collective Frequenzwechsel. 

We kick off the album with the muffled ambient unease-meets- darting electro texturing and simmering ethnic ritual glow of “Collidions”. There’s the drifting “Descender” with its loose mix of hoovering siren waves and swirling electronics. Or the buzzing electro meets eerie vibe simmer of "The Hake", featuring random creepy radio fed male spoken word cryptics.

On the whole, The April Sessions is appealing enough if you are after woozy electro unease, tripped with suggestions of ethno ritual-ness, and crypto surreal wording….though it all feels a little too vague/ hung together for its own good, and surely they could have come up with something better/ more inventive title than The April Sessions!