The Psychogeographical Commission — Genius Loci
Genius Loci is the projects first release which was original released as a long sold-out CDR- now it’s available in a ‘full’ remastered form in a rather fitting oversized cd case which is made to look like an ordnance survey map. The album’s theme/concept is all about the Psychogeographical, occult & spirit bound residue of city scapes; & in particular that of London’s rich & shift sonic & architectural sprit. Each track is based around a mixture of droning, swirling & morphing dark electroinca, clean & harmonic yet doomed guitar lines, and wondering bass lines. All which is topped off with wordy male spoken semi sang vocals which bring to mind the likes of the scholarly yet entertaining vocal style of the likes H.E.R.R or The English Heretic. Talking of The English Heretic; that’s the nearest sonic comparison that most comes to mind through-out the whole of Genius Loci; with it’s mixture of electronics & acoustics, spoken word vocals & slight touches of field recording; but unlike much of English Heretic work this s a lot more song based & approachable, through on the downside it never really reaches the spine chilling & goose-bump rising macabre-ness of the English Heretic at their most potent & deadly.
In all an rewarding opening shot from this project, though towards the end of the album they drop the vocals & drift into rather bland electronic & field recording nodding that’s neither that atmospheric or effectively in enhancing the rest of the albums themes; it almost feels like they ran out of material to fill up a full length so they thought lets 'bugger around' a bit. Never the less don’t let this put you off as there’s real sonic promise in the first three quarters of the album. To find out more & buy direct drop into the bands site here.