I've made a pact to myself to review more Coil albums here in the coming weeks. why? Because of all the fantastic bands who never get recognition, Coil are possibly the one with the most baffling quality to fame ratio.
Formed of Jhonn Balance (Psychic TV), Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle), the omnipresent but mysterious Thighpaulsandra, and a whole range of guests, Coil have a back catalogue of well over 60 albums, starting with 'How To Destroy Angels' back in 1984, and ending with their final release ever, 'The Ape Of Naples', released just earlier this year. Over those 22 years, Coil have ranged everything from synthpop to industrial to drone to classical to folk to ambient and just about every single thing in between. But one thing remains consistent: Coil have always refused to bend to the rules of 'common' music. Experimentation is rife throughout their catalogue, and possibly the only word that would apply to them (other than 'bebop') would be 'traditional'.
Musick To Play In The Dark, and its sequel simply titled Musick To Play In The Dark II, came in the later half of their career, giving it a more focused sound and a painfully eerie theme.
The glowering, washing synths of opener 'are you shivering?' juggles back and forth between granulated samples of human voices, while a chamber choir hymns gently in the background. But like much of Coil's work, the focus is on Johnn Balance's eerie montone as he delivers his mini-poems, layered with strong imagery to evoke the senses. This is, as the title implies, musick to play in the dark.
The impossible psychedelia of 'Red Birds...' is about as different as something that is definitively the same as the song before can be. Devoid of organic sound, a flock of hectic synths cut across one another, creating dozens of combinations of enchanting rythyms and cold, desolate soundscapes, before dissapearing into each other in place of a new melodic lead. To attempt to describe these songs is, to say the least, insanely difficult.
Plodding piano graces 'red queen' as balance ponders the impossible questions of identity, schizophrenia, and reality, like a man standing on the edge of the universe and staring down whatevers on the other side. The tension under the surface is smoothed into an uneasy calm that strikes an unexplainable terror into the listener.
The albums highlight, Broccoli, is like the soundtrack to a moment of sleep paralysis: whirring theramin and popping percussion stir uneasily, while Peter Christopherson approaches the listener on the topic of their own parents inevitable death. The simple nonchalance with which death, life, and reality are faced here adds only to the uneasiness of the listener.
In a moment reminiscent of Tool's 'Intermission' track, the song 'strange birds' sees a small, funky drum beat repeated over the bird sound ambience, with a lightheartedness that makes ones skin crawl.
full instrumentation and musical density returns for the closer, 'The Dreamer Is Still Asleep'. Balance "sings" of natural contamination, while an acid-jazz breakbeat and smooth bassline counteract the dark lyrical content.
Religious, dark, dense, sickening, beautiful, surreal, impossible. Take your pick, as any of these angles can truly do justic to the painfully original and viciously challenging nature of this album, that, in the right conditions can create terrifying introversion.
****
4 stars.
