Alio Die – Under An Holy Ritual

Although they sent me a cassette version of this album, they did send a CD cover, which is very attractive in gold on dark colours & artistic images. And the sound within is just as beautiful. "Light By Initiation" comes first, fading in on dark loops of sound like a repeated bass horn fanfare heard from below the Earth. Rising through this comes an ethnic-sounding drum rhythm, subtle & repetitive, joined by what sounds like sampled Shamanic spirit voices. "Calls From A Lost Conscience" comes next, sounds sustained as if the ghost memories of piano notes played in past days, edgeless and infinitely ebbing & flowing. Metal percussion, light & high pitched tinkles away in the background, like the shine of sunlight off silver. "Global Construction" opens sounding like birdsong looped & edgeless with a warm machine-like sustain of sound beneath which hints at formal beat & rhythm as the entire piece gradually changes & transmutes. A violin-like phrase rises through the mix, once more surrounded by the singing of birds, This fades into the deep sound of bubbling water, itself swallowed by a mild natural machine rhythm. "The Secret Of Shady Gorges" is another piece based on a watery foundation, this time with a rolling percussive rhythm growing through it, which consists of metallics, like heavy oil drums played lightly in series, A hum remains beneath, warming the colder aspects of the Sound. "Axis Mundi" takes a series of sustained sounds, loops them to form a mild, subtle rhythmic flow which rises like the tones of a factory mellowed to delicate church organ, sustained while other, more complex pieces fold themselves in patterns beneath. "Reflections Of A Dawn" grows in gradual tones & shades, gentle yet with an underlying, faster pulse. It phases as if several huge, bass tuning forks were sustained almost to infinity while the merest traces of a filigree skeletal rhythm surrounds the structure - kipper-rib delicate, hardly even percussive, suggesting a fast, microscopic life superimposed onto heavier, warmer, older being. "Invocation Of The Source Of Life" grows up on a similar sustained sound with delicate percussion scratching fine patterns on the soft, flowing warmth. A distant horn sound adds mystery & beneath it what sounds not unlike didgeridoo adds a slightly damp sound. The title track "Under A Holy Ritual" comes next, growing as the rhythmic skeleton, bleached white, filigree & of no recognizable Earthly animal - perhaps something aquatic? Through this as if putting warm meat back onto the cold bones, rises an edgeless flowing sound, gradually forming into a 7 note sequence, railing against the 'norm', yet fitting perfectly. "Cryptic Spell" is another warm, smooth piece, again bringing SPKs "Zamia Lehmanni" album to mind. It flows in dark waves while beneath strange subhuman voices make animal-like noises. "Back To Tikla" takes the title track's sequence as a leaping off point, becoming a wave of gradually changing sound like a hybrid of organ & bagpipe, honed to become a more smooth & subtle beast than either could dream of. "Waking Up From A Wistful Day" dawns, rising from the speakers like tendrils of thick smoke, through which can be heard a wooden rhythmic sound, which might be formed by natural ambient sound, but is presunnbly deliberate. A dark, distant storm drives it back into silence.

This is a truly beautiful, relaxing album, of flowing warm tones, yet is full of interesting little audio sculptures - most of them delicate as spider-spun lace, but always interesting. It is closer to Ethnic music than to modern styles, yet is without doubt a 20th Century creation.

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.