The Stargazer’s Assistant — Fire Worshipper
The Stargazer’s Assistant is the one-man electronic project of visual artist/ percussionist David. J. Smith (founding member of Guapo and member of the Holy Family, Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses and the Amal Gamal Ensemble) a multi-instrumentalist with a penchant for Avant Garde prog sounds and German Kosmische drones. Alongside Smith on this release are regular collaborators David J Knight (Danielle Dax, Arkkon and UnicaZürn) on guitar and FX, Michael J York (Coil, The Utopia Strong, and The Witching Tale), and Antti Uusimaki (Panic DHH, Circle and Tindersticks) on pipes, FX and field recordings.
After the album opens with a brief heavy electronic intro, "Agni" it’s straight into Shamash, a dark, Middle Eastern-flavoured slice of impeccable ambient electronic drone that harks back to some of the finer moments of Coil’s back catalogue. That runs straight into Ishum, a lighter, gentler piece that once again plays with ideas based on Asian rhythms. This is followed by "Shalman", the album’s longest track at over 14 minutes and its epic centrepiece. Built around mantra-like rhythms and sounding like it was recorded at a Buddhist retreat high in the Himalayas, "Shalman" is a masterpiece of primal beats and rhythms that encapsulate the spirituality of that region to perfection. The song builds and builds to epic proportions before finally releasing its pent-up tension in the song’s closing seconds.
"Agneya" is a short synth workout reminiscent of the album opener which operates almost entirely as a preparatory piece for Odqan. Initially a sparse electronic drone piece, it builds into a serene slab of reflective synthy goodness. "Re-Atum" is next and takes things back up a notch, with backwards synth sounds, and a multi-layered production that feels a little busier and more structured after the fairly spacious sounds of Odqan. This bleeds straight into the outstanding "Shango", a sister piece to the wonderful "Shalman". Once again we are treated to something truly spiritual as tribal beats drive the piece forward with some wonderful ethereal pipes from Michael J York playing over the top. "Shango" is a glorious track, sitting alongside "Shalman" as my personal favourite. "Arinitti" is a fairly low-key dark ambient affair after the epic that is "Shango", however, it’s exactly what is needed featuring some wonderful string sounds and a gorgeous female vocal that are juxtaposed by the track’s utterly melancholic vibe. The album closes with "Oya", a short piece with a mix of synth sounds that range from big phat bass synth drones to something wholly more tender and beautiful. A fitting closer to a brilliant album where the track placement seems to have been so important to the success of the whole album.
Fire Worshipper feels like a masterclass in how to create spiritual soundscapes for the modern age. Dark, beautiful, tender and primal all at once, it encapsulates so many different sensations and feelings across its 40 minutes or so length, but it never feels forced and nothing ever feels out of place. The whole album is arranged to perfection, it never takes a wrong turn and to be fair to those involved the tracks work on their own, but they truly excel when they are listened to as one whole piece. A glorious return for a band who have up to now done no wrong in my eyes. As with their last album, Mirrors and Tides, Shivers and Voids, which I also reviewed for Musique Machine a few years ago, this is a wonderful immersive slice of dark ambient, ritualistic electronica that is absolutely essential listening.