Lucifaere (Jim Kirkwood) The Dark Well of Urdr Play: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi   Download: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi (Excerpt from track 'Dark Is My Beloved')

What put some people off Jim's earlier albums were the drum sounds and production style. Both these elements have changed radically and the ethnic 'touches' have given another dimension to the music without detriment to his amazing sequencing style of old. The dark passages are just as dark but even weirder. This is particularly well demonstrated on the fourth number 'Amanita', which initially sounds as if you are emerging from hell up to a nether world where birds feed off the flesh of the undead and strange twisted creatures play amongst festering piles of unimaginable filth but then unexpectedly the track lightens up with acoustic rhythm and rather Turkish sounding melodies. The number and vividness of the images created are breathtaking.

But wait, we are getting ahead of ourselves. The first track , Me-Tog-Ma introduces the sound of a massive gong which is accompanied by an almost Kitaro sounding flute. A deep drum is joined by a hundred mile an a hour sequence which gathers momentum. Another higher register sequence joins it and over the top an ethnic sounding rhythm increases the sense of urgency still further.

'Me -Tog- Ma' ends with a chant and the next track 'Mari Lwyd' starts with a synth sound full of vocal qualities. The sequences and lead lines are reminiscent of Kirkwood of old but the drum sounds and ethnic influences add a completely new twist. Another sequence takes over and an acoustic drum dances over the top. A more beefy sequence is developed and a lead motif is left to hang poignantly in the air. There are so many layers of sequence and rhythm co existing here, all complimenting each other but providing so many things to take in that it will take many listens to fully appreciate the track's brilliance, though pretty damned fantastic it sounds on first listen as well. The best way to describe 'Jay Mata Di' is unique. Imagine a "twangy" sequence, stuttering drums, flute sequence, ethnic vocal samples and short bursts of searing electric guitar all combining to provide a track of enormous energy and emotional overload. The track just gets better and better as well as more intense as it goes on, I mean yes, yess, yesss, YESSS! Bollockingly bloody fantastic!

We finish off with 'Dark is My Beloved'. The heavy rhythm, which is not dance orientated will never the less get you bopping around the room, if it doesn't you're already dead. An immense pulsating wall of sound descends like an avalanche from the speakers leaving most other EM tracks sounding tame and insipid and yet we are only five minutes in. Things calm down and become very atmospheric but the rhythm if anything becomes more mesmerizing and complex. At seven minutes another heavy rhythm comes to shake the foundations. All is change again at about ten minutes when tablas are left to bubble away on their own . Shivers of sound, as if the earth itself is quivering act as a warning that another onslaught is on its way and when it breaks no prisoners are taken. Amongst all the mayhem a delicate vocal sample can be heard and an ethnic melody is added just to be driven away by vicious guitar stabs. Thirteen minutes in we get another sharp change of mood combining samples of what sounds like an Indian school playground with an angelic sigh and a heavily processed, very deep, tabla sound. Another brilliant track.

I have never heard a "come back album" as devastating as this one. His time away has been very well spent. Welcome Lucifaere! (DL)

Second Opinion

After 20+ cassette albums and 2 CD releases you may be wondering whatever happened to Jim Kirkwood? Now returning from a sabbatical of 3 years, and the mega release of 'Yggdrasil' - the 9 album cassette release (which must surely entitle him to some time off! ) we now have his latest manifestation Lucifaere. Why the change of name, you may enquire? Beats me really, though the album does contain some "third world" chants and more of an ethnic stance, what we have here is pure Kirkwood. Heavily sequenced, dark, brooding, and expertly orchestrated. One can only surmise that the sabbatical must have been highly rewarding as 'The Dark Well..' must rank as a pinnacle in his releases to date. Here he shows a maturity in all fields - production (crystal clear), selection (a new array of sequenced sounds), percussion (more varied and synchronised), editing (though all tracks are lengthy, nothing outstays its welcome) and artistic talent (the 12 page booklet is adorned with Jim's artwork, perhaps his finest, along with apocryphal writings and a personal declaration).

'Me-Tog-Ma' (13.17) starts broodily until a TD-like sequence and a finale of a solo female ethnic chant. 'Mari Lwyd' (9.54) slowly evolves until one of Jim's playfully flitting sequences introduces us to a Pandora's box of percussive sequencing sown together to create an endless pattern of dark beauty. 'Jay Mata Di' (13.47) starts strangely, more of a New Electronica stance, with a choppy Autecre-like tempo, until the stranger coupling of a North Indian chant, a metal guitar riff and a penny whistle are added! You figure it out! Sequences, chants and weirdness come and go, styles chop and change, yet not once does the compulsion stray - a real roller coaster of EM! 'Amanita' (10.56) is a complete change as ambience, rainforest calls and dark swathes introduce a percussively, Aboriginal-ethnic piece, very much in the latter-day Delerium style. The music becomes more chameleon as the piece travels through world music styles, an accomplished track which demands repeated playing. To finish, the aptly (for Jim) titled 'Dark is My Beloved' (19.35 ) - an opus work, much more in his better known style / arrangement of dark, Gothic orchestration. Yet, even here, the theme of "Ethnicity" permeates. Various chants, Indian bandir / baglama percussion, along with dark riffs and an ever changing array of seamless sequencing drive what can only be one of Jim's finest moments.