Polish player Wojciech Szachowski appearing as Noche Oscura on his Gardens (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 332-2) CD. Though he may start out the album with the gothic, melancholic poignancy of ‘Eden’ – guitars and basses singing of a haunting supernatural experience rather than a biblical paradise – he soon makes plain his true aims, i.e. sludge-doom influenced infinite-drone megathon playing, as exhibited on the unflagging 22:04 mins of ‘The Two Gardens’. Here, given one foot up the ladder by his concrete amplifiers, Mr Oscura continues his scriptural themes with a sound-picture of Gethsemane, followed by the Tomb Garden, both images drawn from the New Testament. Even his name is religious; “noche oscura” was a phrase used by Saint John of the Cross, the 16th-century Spanish saint, to indicate the value of quiet meditation and lonely contemplation. “Quiet” is the last adjective in your lexicon you’ll be reaching for when faced with this music, though; not that it’s especially loud, but it does crowd out thinking, occupying every stretch of your brain with its insistent tones. Enjoyed the brief vocal sample on ‘The Beam of Darkness’, but it’s an uncharacteristic moment. Aided by Michal Krupa on bass guitar and samples, plus guest players who add tenor sax, shakuhachi flute, drums, etc. Nice colours and atmosphere in the cover art, though I prefer the strange emblem inside the gatefold – cross-hatched drawing of birds’ wings with a lambent flame at the centre. (25/10/2024)
Another album from That’s How I Fight, the Polish four-piece band who use a rock-band setup – sort of – to play dark ambient drone music on Movement Three (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 325-1). Gosia Florczak (synths), Piotr Sulik (guitars), Jacek Sokołowski (drums) and Pieczarka Franciszek (more synths) supplement their rich sounds with loops, pipes, and voices, and as the colourful cover art by Agnieszka Wyszła indicates, they are aiming to evoke something quite dreamlike and strange with their music, possibly with a benign intent. They intend to make some point about “open-endedness”, not just with the music but also the lack of specific titles – the three long pieces are simply given numbers – and even the order of listening is not pre-determined, and the vinyl editions of this release put the numbers in an unexpected order. If they could, THIF would probably eliminate beginnings and ends from their albums, and create a whole environment or eco-system of endless orange drone into which we could sink. It’s all a rather heavy-handed way of inviting the listener to form their own interpretation of the music which they make. This one’s not as “menacing” as Movement Two, and its vague languid tempos aren’t very engaging, but the sound has a fine, burnished quality. Jointly released with Esion Records. (25/10/2024)