TeHÔM — Live Assault
Recalling images of ancient cultures, abstract and organic soundscapes this piece is best heard in darkness. Tehom literal meaning is the Deep or Abyss, and refers to the Great Deep of the primordial waters of creation in the Old Testament, Live Assault certainly lives up to this analogy. It’s depth and shifts in sound capturing the very beginnings of human existence as our desire for ritual and ceremony take a hold of us.
From the outset we are wrapped in a shroud of heavy and oppressive drones that draw you deep in to the world of TeHom and the atmospheres within. Slow, lugubrious tones mix gently with occasional (deep) spoken word narrative / vocals and the noises of far off rites drift out of the ceremonies you are party to. As the music progresses through orchestral and rhythmic forays these main themes keep recurring throughout.
This album rises gently through it’s 47 minutes, however everything in the album seems so far off: you aren’t hearing the ceremony as one involved, but as one spying curiously on the spectacle infront of you. This gives this album a heightened sense of foreboding whilst you listen to it. It’s almost a private performance that you privy to and, therefore, should be grateful to hear.
And ultimately that’s what makes this album. This is an album of indulgence – isn’t every live album? – and indulgence can sometimes be such a guilty pleasure: Live Assault is certainly that for both performer and audience.