When you read Tim Thighpaulsandra Lewis's musical Curriculum Vitae you will notice huge body of work as a artist. Pretty big part of that corpus is mostly gathered around collaborations with Julian Cope, Spiritualized, but mostly working with the black Sun band that is known as Coil. Collaboration with Coil that still resonate to this day, actually spreads from Astral Disaster, both volumes of Musick to Listen in the Dark, also live releases like Queens of Circulation Library and Constant Shallowness leads to Evil, Selvaggina, and most experimental Coil's album Time Machines. Highly praised for his synthesizers and keyboards, a multi-instrumentalist with significant roles in other people's albums and projects. Also his solo career with bravery released 10 albums (including this one on review), stylishly ranged from Industrial, Electronic, Neo Folk, with the topics on homo-eroticism, alchemy and religion, witch crafting, forgotten magic rituals, new age esotheria, ecology, human corruption and human condition... did I mention search for inner-self.
The new album The Golden Communion was released on cult label Editions Mego who are famous for releasing albums as pure art forms - from cover to music itself. And they hit the moment, cause in the same month, in-between couple weeks, when Coil - Backwards and Carter Tutti Void - f(x) are released. So we now we have three albums different albums with artistic vision, that came from the same source. Actually all up mentioned artists used to work together, so there is certain aesthetics. Also we all wait for another album from ex-Coil member Drew McDonald's Collapse album, so that's another treat.
The Golden Communion, as Thighpaulsandra said, some songs were maid a couple years ago, with different structures, but left behind in some of his "folders". The Golden Communion is collection of proggy rock feelings (" I love electric guitar, why should I play just electronic stuff") and long drone and kosmische tracks. So if we look the album as coherent story it's easy to imagine modern rock/electronic opera, Tommy-like. Ok I'm just kidding about Tommy, but there is for sure underline, a concept, a story to tell, in this album.
Salute is slowly builder, that explode in your face, and sounds perfect as a opener. Especially with all those distorted guitars and synths. Did He Fall is breakbeat-ish rock hit, it could be easily played on the radio during day time. My favorite track is The Foot Garden with melancholic and gothic chorus, about loosing somebody we love. I still feel goosebumps when I hear it. A Devil in every Hedgerow has small intro (like in opera), with strong and powerful female vocal, and then goes through dark forest-like sounds, and then ends like requiem with Thighpaulsandra on piano by himself, with fatal and tragic song text. Songs Misery and Valery have similar approach, they start with certain atmosphere, and then in the middle everything turns up-side-down, and final parts of the song are something different. I didn't made any wrong impression when I said it is kind of opera inspired music. The Sinking Stone is pure darkwave/industrial/ambient track with a lot of noise. But for me, best tracks are, over 20 minutes long: The Golden Communion, and The More I Know Men, The Better I like Dogs, which are semi-instrumentals, perfect for dark rooms and self questioning. Or riff heavy On The Register with that powerful riff, with low downed verses.
All in all Thighpaulsandra made strong and powerful album which combines rock/industrial metal with atmospheric "practical magik" slower experimental tracks. Someone wouldn't like crossing the genres, but it is perfect on the long run, not in the sprint. Just sit, make some coffee, tea or red wine, and just let yourself in the magical world that Thighpaulsandra made for You.
damir.plicanic@gmail.com
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