Cindytalk - That We Must Pass Through This Life

Cindytalk return with That We Must Pass Through This Life, the first of new two releases recorded simultaneously "involving excavating hard drives, finding sounds previously unused or only partially used, reworked, with additional sounds and structures put into play". That We Must Pass Through This Life is their second album for Richard Chartier's LINE Sound Art Editions label and it continues their approach of integrating electronics with field recordings, unfolding with an ever-evolving elusive sound with a deeply focussed attention to detail.

The album unfolds like a slow nocturnal journey, steeped in shadow, texture and unease. Across four expansive tracks with song titles taken from a poem by Izumi Shikibu, it creates sounds and atmosphere where beauty and dread quietly coexist.

The opening piece 'I Go Out of the Darkness' immediately establishes the mood with gorgeous, evolving drones that feel dank, cavernous and mysterious. Effected voices, perhaps that of Cinder, surface amid the layers of ambience which slowly shift and breathe, occasionally accompanied by Delicate, tinkling chimes occasionally appear as if carried on the wind. These fleeting moments of light never fully settle, as it slips into murkier, more shadowy terrain.

'Onto a Path of Darkness' strips things back further, favouring space and restraint. Against the constant lashing of rain, haunted piano notes and disembodied tones hang suspended in the air, creating a distinctly nocturnal atmosphere. As it unfolds the piece grows increasingly ominous, its minimal elements combining to form something quietly unsettling.

At over sixteen minutes, 'Lit Only by a Far Off Moon' is the record's most expansive and immersive track. It opens with a gentle breeze of chimes and sparse, sporadic piano notes before slowly transforming into a vast, reverberant textural drift. Shimmering tones, shrieks and glimmers of sound emerge and recede through a shadowy dreamlike atmosphere that feels both dark and hypnotic.

The closing track 'On the Edge of the Mountains' brings the journey to a fitting conclusion. Deep arcing drones merge with piercing, glimmering tones as it drifts through layered passages of textural noise. Chimes are scattered throughout the constantly slipping and reforming drones adding an eerie luminosity to an otherwise bleak soundscape.

Looking at the evocative cover image of a photograph by Cinder of the Beaver Moon above Glasgow it almost forms a human face lit by moonlight watching silently from the darkened skies. It is an elusiveness echoed in this richly detailed and constructed work. That We Must Pass Through This Life is a compelling listen from an artist who thrives on change, whilst maintaing a clear connection to earlier works such as The Wind Is Strong. Look out for its companion album, Sunset and Forever, recorded simultaneously and available now on double vinyl and digitally from The Helen Scarsdale Agency. That We Must Pass Through This Life is available from LINE bandcamp