I had heard many things about Current93 and David Tibet, I knew they had originated from the industrial scene which had spawned such groups as Coil, Whitehouse and Throbbing Gristle but apparently they no longer made straight industrial music, and had moved into much more folk based music.br> To me at the time the thought of listening to folk music was a bit funny. I was listening to black metal and some more avant-garde industrial, but not folk music. So when I downloaded a track off “all the pretty horses” I was amused but would not say that it effected me on any level apart from the novelty value. But I downloaded a couple more songs from other Current93 albums, and I came across a song from the album Soft Black Stars, it was a quite beautiful piano based song with just Tibets voice providing backing. I thought it was great. So I decided to buy an album and got hold of “all the pretty horses”. By the time the final track fades out I was hooked.
The album flows in a way that Is quite unique, all the tracks seem to have a concurrent theme that develops through the album. I can’t really say what the whole things about, Tibets poetry is often quite subjective. I get a feeling of the concepts of Death and Birth being linked in a big chain, that nature and life and experience all connected in a great whole. These ideas mixed with rather religious overtones make up the majority of the albums themes, I could be wrong though, and a lot of the lyrics seem very abstract and strange when first listened to, but then all Tibets lyrics are like that, there’s very little that’s straight forward.
Although the album is rooted in English folk stylings, it is hugely atmospheric and is often combined with layered effects and some industrial touches. Twilight twilight nihil nihil being a Soundscape of distant voices and drones. There are more strange tracks here with The Bloodbells Chime and The Inmost night. The orchestration is superb and the music is very affecting, although there are similar sounds and instrumentation, no two tracks sound the same.
I think the thing that hit me with this and most of Current93s work is that it is so allconsuming, you get dragged in and have to listen to the albums all the way through, like a good book, difficult to put down.
This album really did mark a change in my musical tastes. I never thought I would be raving about apocalyptic folk albums or describing such strange poetry, but I now have seven Current93 albums and a couple of Eps. I have come to understand the great variety of their work, they can still to the creepy industrial madness, but even that’s brimming with emotion and power. They are an absolute one off, and this album is a great testimony to that.
