SONGS OF THE SHADOWThis genre defying work is a marriage made in the abyss. Owing to the music’s intensity, it’s not easily digestible. The eight tracks are more like classical compositions than songs, each unfolding in a series of movements. The complex arrangements accommodate alternations of harsh turbulence and acapella vocals along with frequent tempo shifts. The theme of death is explored from many angles and the results can be terrifying. The atmospheric quality of the music is pronounced, as it meanders from dread through brooding melancholia to rage and despair, with much of the emotional extremity emanating from Jarboe’s vocals. Besides contralto and spectral soprano singing, her delivery encompasses treated vocals, recital, panting, gasps, croaks and whispers. A ghostly male vocal responds sporadically but it is never prominent.The musical texture consists of deep base, tribal drums, swirling synths, percolating percussion, resonating chimes, thundering drones, feedback and samples. A crackling static effect occurs throughout the album. Piano and acoustic guitars surface here and there. Sometimes the guitars create achingly beautiful melodious passages. Overall, the texture exerts a hypnotic effect.Every track has merit but two extraordinary ones must be singled out. ‘Within’ opens the album with a siren and bursts of pounding drums rhythmically interrupted by Jarboe’s creepy spoken lines, followed by breathless panting and concluding with an acapella mantric chant. ‘Cringe’ is a majestic outburst of industrial gale force winds, static storms and dissonance dominated by Jarboe’s other-worldly vocals. The melody breaks down in the turbulence but is never lost and, reassembling itself, comes back stronger than at the outset.

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