Current 93 / HÖH - Island FLAC

Höh/Current 93 - ISLAND (Durtro 006) LP 37m, CD 62mNow what's this? David Tibet along with an Icelandic keyboard/multi-instrumentalist is what! Who would have expected a prog-rock cum synth music twist on the later Current 93 sound? I certainly didn't! Actually, the results are quite enjoyable, certainly easier to come to grips with than the folk hymns of recent C93 albums. Though I wonder, is this serious - or is David pulling a big joke? Whatever, it's guaranteed to puzzle and perplex. Perhaps this was the intention!From "Keeping up with the Current" - an overview of recent Current 93 and related issues, by Alan Freeman (Audion #22. July 1992)

I'm going to be fair on Island and review it as the original eight track LP version, ignoring the trio of comedy songs that completely derail the CD edition (entertaining in their own right, but totally, totally out of place here).David Tibet reunited with HÖH on a trip to the latter's homeland of Iceland, and together they recorded an album of immense beauty. Although some of the synth sounds used root the album firmly in the time it was recorded, their new age sheen is no bother to me - I have a huge fondness for such digital sounds. All eight songs here are phenomenally beautiful, although there are three particular highlights: opener 'Falling', featuring Bjork on backing vocals, is a phenomenal way to open the record. Bjork's voice adds an incredible emotional depth to the piece, despite being so low in the mix. 'Passing Horses', although fully entrenched in the new age synth sound, soars on majestic melodies and a passionate performance from Tibet. Nothing comes close, however, to 'Anyway, People Die'. My all time favourite Current 93 track. Echoes of the aching melancholy found on the first side of Imperium are present, an unearthly rumble of unrecognisible sounds, twinkling bells, and Joolie Wood's beautiful violin crying out from the distance. When Tibet talks about making music for the apocalypse, his more violent sounding songs are often mentioned, but for me this is how the end of the world sounds. The sound of everything dying, the planet collapsing, and a feeling of total hopelessness. An absolute masterpiece.Lyrically, the album sees Tibet returning to the fields of rape theme once more, whilst the lyrics to 'Lament for My Suzanne' and 'Anyway, People Die' would be revisited shortly after during the sessions for Thunder Perfect Mind. This would be the last time songs overlapped quite so obviously. Indeed, Island is the last record of this era of Current 93, with a more stable lineup and traditional release schedule following shortly after the album's release. Island is a wonderful way to end this era of the group.Fingers crossed this album gets a remastered reissue soon, minus those damned comedy songs.

My instincts tell me this album was definitely not produced with any sort of tongue in cheek - one would have to be deaf to Tibet's certain brand of humour however if one weren't to notice lashings of it in the bonus tracks, namely 'Crowleymass Unveiled', 'Paperback Honey' and 'The Fall of Christopher Robin'. I think David was, and still is, really over all the fools in the Thelemite/magick scene around the time (late 80s), to the point where he even thought about dropping the Crowley-inspired band name, but he kept it because it just stuck so well. So it's not surprising, in true clowning Laveyan form, that he thought of penning irreverent-sounding ditties which sought to debunk the dull po-facedness of the 20thC occult scene (I mean, isn't it brow-raising, the fact those last two words should even be juxtaposed?) I quite like the 'Crowleymass' song for what it is (cheesy, funny, synth-heavy, iconoclastic occult-pop; it also has an awesome b-side called 'I Arise'), and 'Paperback Honey' is a bit of fun to be sure, but there's no question that tacking them onto the end of this otherwise lovely and solemn, even if somewhat dated album, was likely to be an unpopular decision. At least it's not the rum misstep of 'The Aryan Aquarians', which I'll never get my head around (nor, I think, will they). Silly, offhand self-caricature or not, the 8 tracks that make up 'Island' constitute an essential C93 document, not just of where Tibet & co. were at musically during the pre-TPM period, but that, perhaps along with 'Earth Covers Earth', is the only really great transitional album between the dogs-blood tape-loop era and the golden thunder-perfect apoc-folk era. Don't be dissuaded by anyone's passing opinions if you're just getting into the Current; 'Island' (and arguably the Icelandic era per se) is essential. I'm guessing this will be getting a reissue before too long just like the rest of the discography, most likely with a special edition with extra material. I'm confident David will have the creative initiative to preserve the original LP and let the 8 tracks stand alone.

Now what's this? David Tibet along with an Icelandic keyboard/multi-instrumentalist is what! Who would have expected a prog-rock cum synth music twist on the later Current 93 sound? I certainly didn't! Actually, the results are quite enjoyable, certainly easier to come to grips with than the folk hymns of recent C93 albums. Though I wonder, is this serious - or is David pulling a big joke? Whatever, it's guaranteed to puzzle and perplex. Perhaps this was the intention! From my review in Audion #22, published in July 1992

This is Current 93's "electronic" album, but a perhaps more apt description is that it's their 4ad album. It's what you'd expect from that description, lots of absolutely spine-chillingly beautiful moments ("Falling," "Anyway, People Die") and a fair share of cheesy synth pop ("Crowleymass"). Also, the instrumentation is reminiscent of 4ad greats like This Mortal Coil or especially that 1987 Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook album, "Sleeps With the Fishes." Lots of digital synth pads, bells, and strings, with an austere neo-classical or Arvo Pärt-esque composerly approach. Really any instruments that amp the emotionality up as much as possible. While I know Crowleymass is supposed to be a comedy song, against the other intense, somber works of the album, it's a sour note. Nevertheless the first four songs of the album still nearly bring me to tears, it is definitely reminiscent of Iceland to me (Ísland is Icelandic for Iceland), a special place of crisis, pilgrimage and transition. Things I'm sure it meant for David Tibet as well.

Crowleymass wasn't on the original album, it was actually a much older 12" single (1987), and it was just appended to the CD reissue of "Island" because of the presence of HöH. You should not consider "Crowleymass" as part of the "Island" concept at all.