Coptic Cat
Well, here it is at last, the long-awaited new full studio album from David Tibet‘s ever-shifting collective Current 93. Their first since 2006’s apocalypse opus Black Ships Ate The Sky, it’s quite a departure from that album’s panoramic folk sound. Anyone who didn’t see any of their recent shows may be in for quite a surprise, though it’s a good one. Gone are the delicate crystalline folk structures of the last few years; it would appear that, along with a lot of the more discerning musical community, Mr Tibet has been discovering (or rediscovering) the joys of doom and stoner metal. After a deceptively fragile opening, two great slabs of guitar noise let “Invocation Of Almost” lead the way for probably the loudest Current 93 album since Dog’s Blood Rising. Yes, there are drums and everything. Eventually. In keeping with it’s doomy roots, this is heavy, slow, monolithic music. By the time the drums kick in, you could be forgiven for thinking it was an undiscovered C93/Earth collaboration. And the collaborators are an interesting bunch indeed- Tibet’s circle of musical friends continues to expand, with the album featuring Grammy award-winner Rickie Lee Jones, Matt Sweeney from Skunk and ZWAN, and, perhaps most eyebrow-raisingly, “Party Hard” frat-boy metal legend turned motivational speaker Andrew WK.
The closest thing I can think of in terms of other Current 93 releases is the box set release Horse, but even that’s not really accurate. This is more like Om, only less mantric and more in your face. Now, anyone out there who’s a Current 93 fan already may be getting a little worried by all this talk of metal and drums, but don’t. The weirdest thing about this already fairly weird album is that it works incredibly well. So incredibly well that by the end you’ll be wondering why Tibet’s not dabbled in this area before – and when he’s finally going to get round to doing that collaboration with Sunn0))).
Perhaps even weirder is the fact that it still sounds very definitely like Current 93. This is, of course, in no small part due to Tibet’s unique vocals, which are here simultaneously stronger and more beautifully fragile than ever. The latest stage of his spiritual journey (which is, after all, what Current 93 have been chronicling for the last twenty-seven years) seems to have taken a very dark turn- even the mellower, more Comus-like strains of “Poppyskins” play host to the recurring word “murderer”, which was also key to the Birth Canal Blues EP. As always, most of the enjoyment comes from trying to decipher Tibet’s dense webs of allusion, whimsy and Gnostic prophecy, which have for the last few years been closer to poetry than any traditional form of songwriting. And he’s certainly on form here. As far as I can tell from a few listens, the key is in the opening “Almost in the beginning was the murderer”, and later references to Cain… But don’t be fooled by any of this into thinking it’s ugly- yes, it’s brutal in parts, and fairly relentless in a Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Swans sort of way, but it’s a thing of great beauty, and as intricately structured as any of the more “mellow” stuff they’ve done.
To be honest, despite the drastic sonic changes, I can’t see this alienating any existing Current 93 fans, as that indefinable “Current 93-ness”, for want of a better (or even a real) word, drips from every note. And I say this as someone who ranks Of Ruine Or Some Blazing Starre as one of his favourite albums of all time. (I need to get famous, really, just so I can get Radio 4 to play some on a Sunday morning when I’m on Desert Island Discs). And of course there’s Tibet, giving one of the finest vocal performances of his career. Indeed, it’s more likely that this will attract more fans to the banner of this most puzzling, adventurous and downright WONDERFUL band.
-Deuteronemu 90210 who promises that, when it becomes time to party, he will party hard-
