Michael Cashmore - The Ninth Circle Beyond The Sun

Michael Cashmore's The Ninth Circle Beyond the Sun arrives with a quiet confidence. In a post on Facebook he stated it his "one of my best works in years". From its first moments it becomes clear he isn't exaggerating. Whilst releases in his Doctrine of Transformation Through Love series have used audio frequencies as a transformational tool combing intensity, beauty and brutality to stimulate consciousness The Ninth Circle Beyond the Sun focusses heavily on the beauty with a flow of 10 parts blending piano, synths with elements of ambient, classical and cosmic to create something cinematic, infused with that innate feeling of sadness and hope that has characterised his work across many forms.

The album unfolds as a continuous suite of melancholic, piano-led compositions wrapped in a cosmic, spacious electronic atmosphere. Early tracks introduce tender piano themes surrounded by swirling synths and occasional timpani, gradually expanding into orchestral-style synth strings and soft percussive elements.

Part 4 is especially strong: a tender piano score paired with emotive strings, and blended with the cosmic synths. At the heart of it is a melody carrying a sense of joy and hope, and that Englishness his music still conveys, despite now being resident in Berlin. Anyone familiar with his work with Current 93 or Nature and Organisation could identify this as a Michael Cashmore composition instantly.

Midway through these 10 compositions, subtle buzzing textures, chiming percussion, and later drum rhythms add momentum with Part 7 shadowed in quivering textures before cutting to quiet synthesiser. Throughout, melodies flow from one piece to the next, with Part 8 returning to soft piano and orchestral strings over gentle cosmic drones. Here, the piece transforms seamlessly into another aching melody - so sad it practically weeps - and again into yet another piano setting. These melodic patterns and progressions just tumble so effortlessly from Michael Cashmore.

From the chime of bells opening Part 9, piano notes fall like tears lifted by synths into a beautiful melodic passage filled with strings and synth suspended within a cosmic haze. On the final piece a melancholic piano score leads into strings passing through waves of cosmic synth textures. Piano motifs recur and reshape themselves, gently unwinding until its final ascent to complete the circle beyond the sun and onwards.

The album feels like a long-awaited return to the melodic sensibility and emotional precision that have marked his greatest works with Current 93, Nature and Organisation, and his recent solo output. The sound sources provide cohesiveness, but I wonder whether it would benefit from the flourishes and chord progressions of his guitar compositions, which are absent here. It is, however, like a culmination - or perhaps a meeting point - of the incomplete piano-based works of Death In a Snow Leopard Winter and the melodies of his major works with Nature and Organisation, together with elements of his sacred audio frequencies releases and the digital-only symphony The Sword Becomes a Shield (Symphony Number 1).

This is sadness and melancholy delivered as a continuous suite of piano-led movements blended with electronic and cosmic synths, befitting a cinematic score. We encourage you to snap up this one, as an already-completed follow-up, The Tenth Circle Beyond the Sun, awaits the success of this release. The Ninth Circle Beyond the Sun is available as CD limited to 300 copies available from Fourth Dimension Records