Island

Durtro 006CD, 1991, Running time: 61:06

Island
  1. Falling - 04:25
  2. The Dream of a Shadow of Smoke - 05:24
  3. Lament for My Suzanne - 04:23
  4. Fields of Rape (Sightless Return) - 02:54
  5. Passing Horses - 05:30
  6. Anyway, People Die - 07:07
  7. To Blackened Earth - 04:18
  8. Oh Merry-Go-Round - 03:48
  9. Crowleymass Unveiled - 07:42
  10. Paperback Honey - 04:56
  11. The Fall of Christopher Robin - 04:55
  12. Fields of Rape and Smoke - 02:52
  13. Merry-Go-Round and Around - 03:50

While this is a very atypical Current 93 album, it is also one of my favorites. The music sounds little like any of c93’s other CDs. Is this a bad thing? I think it certainly is not, but you decide. Most of the music was written by the Icelandic composer/keyboardist Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson; it’s somewhat classical, partially outer-spacey, and extremely beautiful. Some of the pieces were used in the soundtrack to the Islandic film “Children of Nature,” which Hilmar composed the score for. I personally think this is a wonderful album, but I’ve heard dissenting views, so I suppose it’s pretty subjective. Lyrics aren’t included in the liner.

FALLING begins the album with lush eerie keyboards that conjure images of desolate and alien landscapes, with lovely and spooky background vocals provided by Bjork (yes, it’s the Bjork you’re thinking of). Tibet’s vocals, half-sung, half-whispered, are absolutely superb, and in fact, are similarly excellent throughout the album.

THE DREAM OF A SHADOW OF SMOKE is more of HOH’s wonderful keyboards, with Tibet and occasionally a woman reading a text (which I’m told was borrowed from ‘The Rule And Exercises Of Holy Dying,” by Jeremy Taylor) over the music. The second half of the song is all female vocals, with the occasional “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” from Tibet in the background.

The third track, LAMENT FOR MY SUZANNE, is the first exploration of this particular theme; it appears several times in later albums. Unlike the first two tracks, which are paced fairly quickly, this piece is slow and swirling and rather ominous.

Once again, the theme of “fields of rape” reappears in the fourth track, FIELDS OF RAPE (SIGHTLESS RETURN). However, the only thing it really has in common with the other versions is some of the lyrics. In contrast to the noisy and disturbing versions (most notably FIELDS OF RAPE, which appeared on Dogs Blood Rising), this piece is rather simple and quiet and beautiful. If the lyrics weren’t vaguely unsettling, the song could almost be described as “sweet.”

PASSING HORSES is a slowly building song, powerful and ominous.  Lots of keyboards and wonderful vocals from Tibet.

And more of the same with ANYWAY, PEOPLE DIE: whispered vocals, keyboards, violin. Beautiful and depressing. The album keeps getting better and better.

TO BLACKENED EARTH continues the beautiful and depressing theme.  Groove on it.

OH MERRY-GO-ROUND combines violin, keyboards, and Tibet’s vocals for another exquisitely melancholy piece; interestingly enough, he mentions Imperium a couple of times in this song.

Now, into the weird stuff: CROWLEYMASS UNVEILED is a pretty goofy song, to say the least. It’s a remix of the title track from the Crowleymass EP, which was Tibet’s brief foray into the world of rap music.  To say the least, it’s very tongue-in-cheek (listen to the lyrics; they’re hilarious!), and the tune is actually quite catchy. Good silly fun. The only problem I have with this song is the fact that it appears on this album! I mean, the first eight tracks build up an exquisitely melancholy mood, and then track nine, ten, and eleven come along, all silly and weird, and for me, completely spoil that carefully built mood. If you have the CD version of the album, and if your CD player is programmable, I recommend editing out this song, as well as the next two. The album is a powerful experience that’s easily mucked up by listening to these songs and breaking the mood. You can go back and listen to ‘em later (and you definetly should, because they’re great pieces on their own).

PAPERBACK HONEY is another weird, silly song, once again quite satirical. Great lyrics, catchy pop-style music, and a lot of fun. As noted above, however, it’s quite distracting from the mood established by the rest of the album.

THE FALL OF CHRISTOPHER ROBIN is probably my least favorite song on the album. It’s kind of an interesting and silly idea, but lyrically and vocally, it doesn’t quite do it for me. The music is electronic and cool, though. As above, you may find it annoying after the first eight tracks.

However, with FIELDS OF RAPE AND SMOKE, we’re once again back in the beautiful/depressed vein that we began the album in. The music is similar to FIELDS OF RAPE (SIGHTLESS RETURN), but with Einar Orn speaking in Icelandic over it. An excellent piece.

And finally, the album ends with MERRY-GO-ROUND AND AROUND, which is a musical reprise of the earlier track, OH MERRY-GO-ROUND. No vocals, just a violin and HOH’s wonderful keyboards.

No epilogue.