The Spermaceti Organ – Cosmic Distance Ladder

Courier Sound

The latest release from The Spermaceti Organ, on a lovely cassette from Courier Sound, is a crazy, lurid yellow in an orange outer case; a vibrant and vivid release that is somehow the opposite of the distant light-smeared visions evoked by the sounds. This is no great surprise, considering the titles on the first side: “Super Cluster”, “Galaxy Cluster” and “Globular Cluster”.

The vision is of travel to some dim and distant outpost, with the vast echoes of space and the sense of emptiness. There are internal and external forces at work here and the passing of things at great speed on the outside is balanced by the torpor experienced inside. There is an intensity to the metallic scraping and the background sense of arrival, far far in the distance, light years away.

A sense of discovery lies ahead, the tuning of radios but no contact is available, just the lonely stir of static, and there is also a serenity in that all-consuming glow. We know that there is no turning back here and a strange wind blows across what will hopefully be a settlement in years to come, an echo of the sounds of progress which will possibly draw more people here.

The motorik sounds that appear along with insect noises towards the end feel like a dream, a dream of home that will never be seen again. These brief glimpses act like a salve to the overwhelming sense that reality will eventually settle and the pulse of work will be the rhythm of life, but in some hypnotic, frozen reverie with the dichotomy of stasis and movement slowly and inexorably disorientating as time gradually passes.

-Mr Olivetti-