The Elemental Chrysalis — The Dark Parth To Spiritual Expansion
Disk one or as it’s named collection one shows the more acoustic and stripped down facets of the project and really works as one long sonic trip even though it’s split into 4 tracks, alot of sound and melody themes are repeated and revisited, giving the feeling like a jounery on a certain path. It all starts off with In through the desert Door of a Woodern Heart- which is built around doomy church like organ patterns, acoustic guitars and what sounds like banjo. It last near on 25 minutes and I’m afraid to say it just seems to go round and round in sonic circles with little reward or atmosphere- I can see what’s been trying to be done, but it just feels wrong and often awkward with discordant cords here and there too.
Thankfully after the poor and ineffectual opener it gets a lot better and really goes from strength to strength (for the most part). Track two Procession of Burn flowers is simply hauntingly beautiful with it’s rich dark acoustic country twang & with growing in the background darkness and malevolent ambience and a mix of forest male speaking in tongue & mournful female crying. Ending the first disk is the title track which reintroduces some of the melodies and harmonics from the first track, but this time around it feels much richer and atmospheric cutting all the discordant or bum notes out, it also introduces singing- which is a first for the project and is done in a sombre mumble that fits the tracks mournful yet heroic air well.
Disk two or collection two is the album and the quality of material I was expecting from this duo after their first releases together The Calocybe Collection (which still stands as one of my favourite releasers of the last 5 years). The music here is still stripped down in places but through out it just seems so much more emotional, deep and atmospheric- it also sees the return of interesting and unexpected sonic twists and turns in the music(which were all but missing on Collection one) and also the reappearance of vocals.
There is not one mis-step with-in collection two, so it’s hard to pick a favourite as each track has its own tangible and involving atmosphere- But If pushed I’d say the epic in title and length Grey Like A Moon Underneath the wave of Storm…her Shroud falls faint as a Clouded Embrace- which starts off with the sound of forest downpour and melancholy/ eerier flute weaves, then builds to tribal drum, organ, rain sound and echoed vocal march that is so hypnotically beautiful it just sucks you deeper and deeper into the tracks rich sorrowful heart, latter on haunting violin/ strings add even more grim wonder. If you shut your eyes your starting out onto a forest glade in late autumn early winter as solemn gowned figures appear carrying a casket of oak and vine that’s to be placed in the harden ground for it’s place of rest and decay- from the earth we come & to the earth we return. The piece finshers with an doomy, mournfully & beautiful piano and violin march that crawls to near stand still and your complete and utterly lost in it’s sonic sombre and beautiful air- simply spellbinding stuff .
So an album that unfortunately sits rather lopsided with me- with the first disk been uneven & at times very lacklustre (mainly because of the first track) and a second disk that shows the pair performing at the height of their powers, creating some of the most emotional and atmospheric music I’ve heard. Certainly worth a look if you brought the first album & if not buy the first album first then progress on this it’s more difficult counterpart.