Austrian eMego are rapidly becoming the parent label to a whole family of thriving, intelligent, often precocious children, but on the evidence of this release on Ideologic Organ might be the brainy do-gooders of the bunch. Power electronics have been swapped for moody ECM acoustics, a reverberant recording of voice and viola by Sunn O))) collaborators Jessica Kenney and Eyvind Kang – reissued from 2005.
There’s a sense of droning monotone throughout which brings it closer to standard eMego fare than you may initially think, via Tony Conrad, Kang’s bowing sticking close to Kenney’s voice through all melodic motion. There’s also a stillness, proceeding with the pace of a tortoise, which adds a further religious air, but one of all encompassing non-denominational devotion, incorporating hints of inter-cultural influence from piece to piece. ‘Orcus Pellicano’ employs bow playing betraying shades of chiense zither, while ‘Figura Nox’ recalls faint Middle Eastern patterns. ‘Unnamed Figures’ centres around short glissandi, bent vocal and string phrases, While ‘Dies Mej’ intrdouces ritualistic percussion, plucked strings and greater use of echo for perhaps the albums most affecting work. Aesetarium nonetheless remains closer to Western Early music than these foreign influences.
Joshua Meggitt
