Posted in Whathaveyou on September 23rd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
The initials in question for The Holy Mountain Orchestra‘s “Song for JW” belong to John Whitson, who founded the label Holy Mountain and passed away in July. The band features just a couple of the artists he supported, including Al Cisneros (Sleep, Om), Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (Lichens, ex-Om), Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance, ex-Comets on Fire) and drummer Matthew Tobias, and the only real question as regards the six-minute standalone single — available through Bandcamp and a number of outlets linked below, among them Drag City Records, which may or may not be behind the release, I’m not sure — is how much of a real band they’re going to be.
If it’s a one-off, well, fine. It’s not the first time Cisneros and Chasny have collaborated, or Cisneros and Lowe for that matter, and while one vividly recalls the last ‘supergroup’ in which Cisneros took part — Shrinebuilder, more than a decade ago — the vibe on The Holy Mountain Orchestra‘s “Song for JW” is more experimentalist with Lowe‘s vocals placed for texture in an atmospheric mix as Chasny‘s guitar low-key shimmers, Cisneros‘ bass and Tobias‘ drums remind that dub is where the former’s heart is these days, and a decent amount of synthesizer included in the proceedings.
If it’s not a one-off, they’d probably make a pretty killer band, and the question becomes what’s next.
And I guess that’s something to hope for, but I’m light on hope these days, so I’ll live in the now and take what I can get rather than being greedy for more. In any case, the sense of homage is plain in the music and for being forward-thinking in sound whether it’s a one-off or not, one can hardly think of a more fitting tribute to Whitson, whose label helped recast how ‘Heavy’ is defined as an aural concept.
From social media:
The Holy Mountain Orchestra is Al Cisneros (bass, Moog), Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (vocals, Mellotron), Ben Chasny (guitar) and Matthew Tobias (drums, percussion). They play in honor of the late John Whitson, who founded and operated one of the world’s greatest independently-run record labels. Their single, “Song for JW” is out now.
The tradition being engaged is raga, albeit loosely. Guitarist Ben Chasny, who at the time was also in indie-credded psych rockers Comets on Fire, had already released seven, maybe eight full-lengths under the weighty moniker of Six Organs of Admittance between 1998 and 2006, and assorted short releases besides. The Sun Awakens, then, as the eighth or ninth ordinal record, is an setting for a moment of arrival. That is to say, how many really great eighth albums have you ever heard? “Oh the debut is cool but what you really want is this band’s eighth LP.” Not a phrase I’ve ever heard in a record store or anywhere else in the digi/physical ether.
Produced by Tim Green (Trans Am, The Fucking Champs, etc.), The Sun Awakens by no means ends its rule-breaking by simply being a landmark for the project. Concurrent to the seven-song/44-minute album’s release on Drag City, Chasny had issued a split between Six Organs — I shorten the name because here in the second paragraph we’re less formal — and Om, who had the time only had two records out and had created a lot of buzz around them. On Holy Mountain, that split would be a gateway for a lot of people to Chasny‘s work, myself included.
And where one might generally suspect that showing up eight years/platters after leaving the ground floor makes you late to the party, the truth is that while prior Six Organs of Admittance outings offered moments of the kind of realization one finds in “Black Wall,” “Bless Your Blood,” or the loosely Western instrumental centerpiece “The Desert is a Circle,” where the circle seems to be the central guitar figure itself. Chasny had begun with more of an experimentalist bent, and while there were always strong currents of acoustic guitar and the overarching vibe was a kind of a recorded-in-the-bedroom take on psychedelic folk, over those searching years, Chasny began to discover the melody and songwriting realization that bear fruit on The Sun Awakens.
But it’s not so clean a narrative as that. The Sun Awakens isn’t so much more cohesive than 2005’s School of the Flower or the intimate show of craft on 2003’s Compathia, but it’s something that likely couldn’t or wouldn’t exist without those records preceding. It has elements from both and its own shimmer, and while the guitar and Noel Von Harmonson‘s light-drum wakeup in “Torn by Wolves” — later answered by the penultimate “Wolves’ Pup” — there’s still experimentation happening in his material, as both the noisy finish of “Attar” and the near-24-minute finale “River of Transfiguration” attest, obviously more the latter than the former.
“River of Transfiguration” consumes more than half of The Sun Awakens‘ runtime and so is a clear focal point for the album. I guess it would probably fit on a vinyl side for a reissue — if I was a better content provider, I’d have waited to write about this until its 20th anniversary next year; happy to suck at that particular thing — because it did when Drag City released it on LP in ’06. A heavy meditation on its own, it arises on a bed of drones and unfolds with expected patience over its course. Green gets in on the noisemaking, and Al Cisneros of the aforementioned Om contributes bass and vocals to the cause.
As immersive as the rest of The Sun Awakens is — and it is; “Torn by Wolves” is 1:42, and if you’re not hypnotized by the end of it, go back and start again — “River of Transfiguration” intentionally brings this to another level. Arguably, “Bless Your Blood,” “Black Wall” and “Attar” are the most straightforward of the pieces, but the bookending “Wolves” duology and “The Desert is a Circle” are easy enough to follow along where the guitar leads, not the least because there’s still direction in the songwriting. The B-side is a turn in a different direction, still listenable, certainly, but expressive in its own way. If the first six tracks of The Sun Awakens offer the listener a place to dwell for a time, so does the finale, but in its own way.
The reason it’s not out of place one could chalk up to the foundation in experimentalism. The broader context of Chasny‘s prior work in the project should be enough to let you set expectations aside and trust the crux of where he’s leading is a place you want to go, but even if not, side A re-earns that trust in less than its 20 minutes’ time so that the world-creation that happen subsequent has a backdrop in which to take place. In that regard, the slow post-folk drift of “Bless Your Blood,” with the album’s first quiet, doubled vocals, is no less crucial to the proceedings than the closer more than four times as long.
It and “Black Wall,” paired together after “Torn by Wolves,” set the mood for the rest of what follows, and as much as Chasny might institute a vibe-shift here and there — looking at you, “Attar” picking up from “The Desert is a Circle” with its own rural pluck and turning it to scorcher noise in the second half — but while he’s got other collaborators like Von Harmonson drumming on “Attar” and “River of Transfiguration” as well as the leadoff, Cisneros and Green on the finale, etc., Chasny himself remains at the core of the material, and that too draws together the songs as they low-key adventure through various ideas and executions.
Just as The Sun Awakens was led up to by Six Organs of Admittance‘s prior catalog, so too does what followed build on its accomplishments. In 2007, he’d release Shelter From the Ash and between 2009’s Luminous Night and 2011’s Asleep on the Floodplain (review here), and that growth would continue. The 2010s would bring experiments like Hexadic (review here) and its sequel, as well as the psych-rocking Burning the Threshold (review here), and up to last year’s Jinxed by Being, Chasny has reliably pushed himself to new aural discoveries. If The Sun Awakens is your first exposure, and it’s a positive one, there’s a solar system’s worth waiting for you on the other side of a Bandcamp link. Consider yourself lucky.
I hadn’t heard this one in a while and was looking for something soothing as we hit into summer’s late-August comedown. As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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My stomach is killing me. The Patient Mrs. is making breakfast and I don’t think it’s anything more serious than I drank my coffee too fast — a familiar scenario, in other words — and it’ll pass. My mother’s voice in my head, “Fart a few times.” Advice I’ve taken on so, so many occasions.
We’re in the wind-down portion of summer. Last week, The Pecan had an auditory processing assessment. They found she has a disorder where she can’t discern single sounds playing at the same time and so just misses however much. This we see when she’s playing Zelda and you ask if she wants a slice of pizza and you have to say the question seven times before she notices you speaking, let alone answers. The running gag this week is, “Oh you know she has that doesn’t-listen-for-shit disorder.” Possibly also the running gag for the rest of my life.
A follow-up visual processing assessment is today. All of this is I think drawing circles around an autism diagnosis, which the new OT place seems to think we’re headed toward. I’ve certainly said before I think she’s on the spectrum — I think we’re all on the spectrum; it’s a fucking spectrum — for ASD, but honestly, I don’t trust the government not to put autistic trans kids on trains to alligator alcatraz six months from now, so if it comes to it, I’m not sure I’d be willing to put the diagnosis on paper officially at this particular moment in history. But it’s an orbit we’ve been in for a while. And we like information. More of it seems worth the argument to get her out of the house. No doubt she’ll spend much of the afternoon playing Zelda.
That’s fine. I found a decent graphics mod and a bunch of cheats for the GameCube version of Twilight Princess that runs on my laptop, so started a game of that. She’s still on the Tears of the Kingdom Randomizer as well, and so am I, though I also started a game of Pokemon Arceus this week just to see how much like Breath of the Wild it is. It is, is my answer. I don’t regret modding the Switch or the stress of trying to make it work. The last couple weeks of payoff for that have been worth it, and I’ve only run one modded game on the thing.
I’ve got most if not all of the next Quarterly Review booked, so over the weekend one of my tasks is to slate that sometime in the next few. The fact that September is in a week will help, but it might be later in the month or even first week of October. My hope is not because if I have to wait another month I’ll have a harder time keeping it to five days, which I’d like to do for my own well-being and quality of life as well as keeping up with news and all the rest. The last QR was super-easy. I expect the next, therefore, to be pulling teeth every sentence of the way. I’ll be home alone with the dog, is the saving grace. At least no one else will have to deal with me.
I heard a new Buzzard EP this week though and didn’t listen to much else thereafter. Easily my most-heard artist of 2025. I’ll have coverage of that in the new month to come.
That’s all I got. We’re in CT this weekend, I’m gonna go see Thunderchief in Wallingford, so I’ll have that review up on Monday and a whole week thereafter. Till then, stay safe, stay hydrated, stay rocking.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 26th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
It’s an enticing idea, Al Cisneros and David Eugene Edwards working together, but if you’re thinking it’s gonna sound like Sleep with the dude from 16 Horsepower playing banjo and “Strawfoot”-crooning over it, that’s probably not what their collaborative EP is going to be. Mind you I wouldn’t actually know that, as I haven’t heard it, but Cisneros has been sporadically working on solo dub tracks under his own name — his latest two-songer, Suicide of Judas / Akeldama, was pressed as a 7″ in 2023 — for over a decade now, and Edwards‘ 2023 solo album, Hyacinth (review here), brought moody modernism to his roots-based songwriting.
As to what combining those two might sound like, it could be Edwards on a Cisneros track, Cisneros on an Edwards track, both, neither, or some combination of the two. In other words I’ve got no idea. But whatever it is, I’m sure some people will moan about it and some people will say it’s the best thing ever, because both parties involved are known enough to have fans and such is the nature of fandom as we’ve all learned from the internet. For realsies, you wouldn’t say either of these parties was lacking for creativity, so the thought of having them collaborate, however it actually turns out, is exciting. And by the way, I’m slagging neither Edwards‘ solo record nor Cisneros‘ dub excursions. Both are rad as well and artistic exploration is a good thing and the world could use more of it.
There’s no audio yet — and that’s not actually unreasonable; with just two songs there isn’t a ton to go around — but preorders are up for the 10″ from Drag City and fortunately neither Cisneros nor Edwards are lacking for a back catalog for you to dive into in the meanwhile. April 25 is the release date, like the headline says.
From social media:
Announcing Pillar of Fire / Capernaum, the first collaboration between Al Cisneros (OM, Sleep) and David Eugene Edwards (Wovenhand, 16 Horsepower), out on April 25th.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 3rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I guess this is the part where I say it’s been 10 years since Om released Advaitic Songs (review here), and though rumors have persisted of an album being this or that in some stage of done or not, I’ve yet to see anything manifest in concrete, confirmed fashion since 2019’s excellent BBC Radio 1 (review here) live record. And at this point, maybe it’s unreasonable to expect another one to come, right? Maybe in your life you get to make one album like that if you’re lucky enough, and maybe that kind of scope and realization isn’t something that could happen twice. Lightning meet bottle, etc. I don’t know. If it’s a question of their having set a standard by releasing one of the best records of the 2010s — and one that, despite being issued so early in the decade, actually held up for the rest of it — I’d be happy just to hear Al Cisernos‘ Rickenbacker mellow out for 35 or so minutes on some songs. Anything past that is gravy, really.
Om have Fall tour dates announced with Zombi. They’ll be doing the Midwest and West Coast, some shows in Canada. I’d love to see this band again, as I’ve missed chance after chance and it’s been a while by now, but maybe next time. And of course if I hear/see/smell anything about a new full-length, I’ll probably post faster than I can even type, so apologies in advance when everything is spelled wrong.
Dates from socials:
OM Tour
All shows with Zombi
09.08 Oklahoma City OK 89th St. OKC 09.09 Lawrence KS The Bottleneck 09.10 Omaha NE Slowdown 09.12 Des Moines IA Wooly’s 09.15 Chicago IL Thalia Hall 09.16 Milwaukee WI Cactus Club 09.17 Minneapolis MN Fine Line 09.20 Winnipeg MB Canada Pyramid Cabaret 09.22 Saskatoon SK Canada Amigos Cantina 09.23 Edmonton AB Canada The Starlite Room 09.24 Calgary AB Canada Dickens 09.27 Vancouver BC Canada Rickshaw Theatre 09.28 Seattle WA The Crocodile 09.29 Bellingham WA Wild Buffalo 09.30 Tacoma WA Alma Mater 10.01 Portland OR Aladdin Theater 10.03 Berkeley CA The UC Theater 10.04 Felton CA The Felton Music Hall 10.05 Los Angeles CA Lodge Room 10.06 Los Angeles CA Lodge Room 10.07 Solana Beach CA Belly Up Tavern 10.10 Mesa AZ The Nile 10.11 Las Vegas NV Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas 10.12 Salt Lake City UT Metro Music Hall 10.13 Englewood CO The Gothic Theatre 10.15 Albuquerque NM Sister Bar
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 3rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Kind of painful to realize, but by the time Om hit the UK and Europe next Spring, they’ll be coming up on almost a full decade’s remove from their 2012 landmark fifth and most-recent long-player, Advaitic Songs (review here). Of course, founding bassist/vocalist Al Cisneros has hardly been idle in the intervening years — except perhaps for the enforced idleness of this past year-plus — having shifted his focus onto Sleep, but still, 10 years without an Om record is a long time. The band issued the vinyl-only BBC Radio 1 (review here) on Drag City in 2019, and if you didn’t get that, I don’t really have much better advice for you than to do so when/if possible. It’s one of those things you’ll be happy you brought into your domicile.
Om‘s last tour was happening as the COVID lockdowns hit in 2020. They were on the road with Wovenhand, which would’ve been a show to see and kudos to those lucky enough to have done so. Doesn’t seem unreasonable to think North American dates will be announced at some point either before or after this trip abroad, and there’ve been rumors of Om recordings in process for years at this point. I know if that if I was in a position of following-up Advaitic Songs, I’d want to take my time too. I have no doubt whenever their next offering comes, it will find welcome.
Here are dates:
Om 2022 UK & European Tour
05.13 Bergen Norway Landmark 05.14 Oslo Norway Kulturkirken Jakob 05.16 Gothenburg Sweden Pustervik 05.17 Copenhagen Denmark Pumphuset 05.19 Berlin Germany So36 05.20 Leipzig Germany Ut Connewitz 05.22 Athens Greece Gagarin 205 05.25 Brighton UK Chalk 05.26 Bristol UK The Fleece 05.27 Birmingham UK The Crossing 05.28 Glasgow UK SWG3 Galvanisers 05.30 Dublin Ireland Button Factory 05.31 Liverpool UK 24 Kitchen Street 06.01 Manchester UK Gorilla 06.02 Leeds UK Brudenell Social Club 06.03 London UK EartH 06.06 Brussels Belgium Botanique 06.07 Brussels Belgium Botanique 06.08 Essen Germany Zeche Carl 06.09 Hamburg Germany Knust 06.10 Utrecht Netherlands Tivoli 06.13 Munich Germany Feierwerk 06.15 Zurich Switzerland Mascotte 06.16 Bern Switzerland ISC Club 06.19 Lille France L’Aeronef
Posted in Reviews on February 19th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
As a fan of Ben Chasny‘s sometimes-solo-project/sometimes-band Six Organs of Admittance, I try to be careful not to look at too much of what he says about any given release before I form my own impressions, because what I’ve found over time is that the guitarist/vocalist/synthesist/whatever-else-ist carries a rare level of insight into his own output and brings such a firm sense of consciousness to what he does that how the record comes across in listening invariably ends up hued by what he’s said. In the case of Companion Rises — the follow-up to 2017’s Burning the Threshold (review here) — Chasny is the only player on the album and he weaves songs that vary between layers of intertwining acoustic and electric guitars and periodic washes of synth. It is a solo record, and brings out some of the intimacy of his earlier, bedroom-folk experimentations, but invariably bears the hallmarks of his overarching maturity of craft, and that’s shown early in the nine-cut/39-minute long-player with the at-least-I-think-it’s-keyboard waves undulating in the intro “Pacific” and the subsequent shift into “Two Forms Moving.”
Like good literature, these two songs are more or less giving the listener the information they need to process the context of much of what follows. A decidedly Californian vibe — Chasny is currently listed as being in Holyoke, Massachusetts, but has roots as well in San Francisco — plays out through “Pacific” and in later pieces like “The 101,” the title of which is even phrased in a SoCal manner, in which a busy rhythm of seemingly looped acoustic guitar and a plugged in solo arrives in somewhat manic fashion accompanying a bluesy paean to the coastal highway itself. The frenetic feel there is something of an extension of what happens in “Two Forms Moving” earlier, as the track realizes two progressions at once as the lyrics also tie into the title, and Chasny — who created a mathematical system of guitar playing and in 2015 released a pair of albums called Hexadic, as well as an instructional book for others, is no stranger to such conceptualism — executes acoustic and electric movements at the same time. One, then, is the companion of the other. It all ties in, or at very least can be interpreted as doing so.
With “Two Forms Moving” offering such a willfully multifaceted take, its feel becomes intense by the time the solo and the acoustic lines are shifting through their build. The entirety of Companion Rises doesn’t necessarily hold that pattern, but “The Scout is Here,” which follows directly, does. But the balance of the mix shifts, so that Chasny‘s vocal melody is more prominent, the electric guitar comes in intermittent spurts of solo flourish early on, and later shifts to a complementary role playing off the acoustic part and thus the song is more cohesive and less mindboggling on the whole. There is still forward movement in the two guitars — and there might be more than two by the time the five-minute track gives way to amp hum to close — but it’s still easier for the listener to process than some of what’s come before. “Black Tea” continues that thread, pushing the electric further down and bringing in simple percussion — it might be a hand tapping a guitar — as the singing takes on multiple layers and moves gorgeously through several verses. It is songs like “Black Tea” and the centerpiece title-track right after it that showcase why Six Organs of Admittance is still so often considered folk having long since let go of most genre conventions.
If one is thinking of companionship, then that between “Black Tea” and “Companion Rises” makes all the more sense, as well as that of “Haunted and Known” and the penultimate “Mark Yourself,” the former of which takes a subdued, quiet moodiness that is as quintessentially Six Organs of Admittance as one could possibly hope for and blasts it apart after three minutes or so with a consuming wash of synth backed by far-off howls of electric guitar. It is beautiful and cinematic in kind, not rife with drama or pretense, but it feels grand just the same, and “Mark Yourself” answers back by bringing acoustic and electrics forms together once again, this time with other looped vocal arrangements and more besides, but gradually fading to a standalone line of piano, giving way to the drone soundscaping of closer “Worn Down to the Light,” which at four minutes long is an instrumentalist response perhaps to “Pacific,” though decidedly less wavy in its execution. In any case, by then, the album’s theme is well established and brought to fruition through idea and craft alike.
Ultimately, there is enough depth to Chasny‘s songwriting that the individual listener can decide how deep they want to go in their own read. Companion Rises, which even unto its sunset-thus-likely-moonrise cover art speaks to the notions it puts forth, balances richness and fullness of sound with the aforementioned sense of intimacy that comes in part simply from being a solo LP, even playing much of this material live would require a band or at least a pedal board big enough to accommodate one — a well-programmed laptop would do it too, one guesses. And even as it has to be acknowledged that although so much of Companion Rises is given to considerations of togetherness, it was made by one person alone, it seems clear through the listening experience that what’s being meditated on throughout is a sense of interaction. Place is part of it, as “Pacific” and “The 101” show, but it runs deeper through “Two Forms Moving,” “The Scout is Here” and even “Black Tea” and “Companion Rises” itself, the sweetness of the melody in that title-track at a deceptive peace with the organ line that keeps it company.
One way or the other — or, more likely, both — Six Organs of Admittance manifests loneliness and the excitement at being with others, and even if that interpretation is totally wrong and the album title has nothing to do with anything in the tracks and the whole thing is a lie meant to mislead anyone who takes the record on, it doesn’t matter. The simple fact that these songs can speak to these ideas and potentially others is further proof of how crucial Chasny‘s work is.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 29th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
I don’t know if I’m going to do a 2020 Most Anticipated Albums list. I didn’t for 2019 and it felt like a huge weight off my shoulders. And those things, honestly, are usually at least 89 percent bullshit anyway, because there are like three albums announced for past March when they’re being written and the rest of the post is like, “Duh, maybe we’ll get a new Tool album,” or whatever it is that people are waiting for and will click on. Wow. I think I might’ve just talked myself out of it (again). Sweet.
But anyway, if I was going to do that kind of list, the Feb. 21 release of Six Organs of Admittance‘s upcoming long-player, Companion Rises, would most certainly be on it. True, I’m a nerd for the long-running Ben Chasny-led project generally, but adding interest here is the fact that Chasny made the whole thing on his own, where other recent outings have involved a variety of players to the degree that at one point Six Organs was touring as a full band. A more purely solo vibe, even with arrangements done in layers, recalls earlier albums, and well, I like those albums, so mark me down as on board for this one when it comes down the line.
That’s all. Don’t expect that list, but expect me to write a silly gushing review just the same for this album sometime after I’m fortunate enough to hear it.
From the PR wire:
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM COMPANION RISES OUT VIA DRAG CITY, FEBRUARY 21ST 2020
Six Organs of Admittance is back with a new record, new techniques in sound generation, and a new energy. Arriving three years after Burning the Threshold, Companion Rises has a driving force only hinted at previously. Due out on Drag City on February 21st 2020.
Methodologically, Companion Rises sometimes recalls the early-mid lo-fi Six Organs records, with digital processes substituting for the analog techniques of yore and, instead of Ben Chasny’s hand percussion overdubs, algorithmic programs generating rhythms. Ben Chasny created all sounds and programs, all the recording and mixed the entire record, also like some earlier ones – but don’t mistake this for a simplistic return to an older sound. Just one listen makes it clear that this new Six Organs of Admittance release is entirely in the present.
Sonically, the songs are bursting with ideas, harmonically rich, gorgeously arranged; utilising synthesizer and guitar distortion for unique colouring effects while crafting contrasting versions of the song within itself, overlaying electric and acoustic treatments that interlock like two shards to form a single key. The rush of excitement is palpable, track after track.
Thematically, Companion Rises navigates a similar Stellar-Gnosticism as 2012’s Ascent, while exploring a completely different set of stories. Whereas Ascent was locked into a narrative concerning a sentient Jupiter, Companion Rises presents a handful of folk-tales whose topics span in scope from panspermia to specific constellations, all written in a way that eschews old new age presentation tropes and embraces the now. One thinks of Octavio Paz’s oft-used metaphor of the concentric circle, as Companion Rises returns to a similar place but much farther out from the center.
With Companion Rises, Ben Chasny has created a Sci-Folk record that feels very much right-place, right-time as we welcome in the new decade. Listen to the first single “Two Forms Moving” above and preorder the new album for February 21st.
Posted in Reviews on October 23rd, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Some seven years ago, in 2012, Om issued their fifth full-length, Advaitic Songs (review here), through Drag City and thereby secured a place high among the decade’s best releases. Though founding bassist/vocalist Al Cisneros has split time in the years since between Om and the ongoing reunion of landmark stoner metallers Sleep, the album has continued to hold its audience, and its influence continues to spread to other acts on multiple continents. It was the kind of offering upon which legacies are made, and the new live recording BBC Radio 1 (also Drag City) is a reminder of that, even if only half its inclusions are actually from Advaitic Songs itself. Those songs, “Gethsemane” and “State of Non-Return,” are enough to get the point across on the limited gatefold double-10″ vinyl outing, and paired with “Cremation Ghat I” and “Cremation Ghat II” from 2009’s God is Good (review here) it is stirring and hypnotic in kind, the kind of release that makes you wish it was longer than its all-too-brief 29-minute run.
Om‘s lineup has shifted since Advaitic Songs. While that record marked the introduction of Lichens‘ Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (who had also appeared on God is Good) as a full member handling keys, percussion, vocals, etc., earlier in 2019, Cisneros and longtime drummer Emil Amos (also Grails, Holy Sons, and so on) brought in Tyler Trotter as the third member, and it was this incarnation of the band that recorded BBC Radio 1 at the British Broadcasting Company‘s studio in London’s upscale Maida Vale neighborhood, with its quietly old-money residences, tree-lined city streets and small but welcoming coffee/tea shops. The tracking was done on May 3, which was just a couple weeks before Om toured the Southwest ahead of playing Monolith on the Mesa, and about two months ahead of their Summer 2019 European tour, which included stops at Lake on Fire in Austria and SonicBlast Moledo in Portugal, but if hitting the BBC studio was the only reason Om made the trip abroad, one can hardly fault their logic in doing so. The results are little short of immaculate.
That sounds like hyperbole, and maybe it is, but you have to believe me when I say that this recording of “State of Non-Return” features if not the best then certainly one of the top three bass tones I’ve ever heard. I’m a sucker for bass tone anyway, and Cisneros is a master of low-end warmth, but for the tidal surge kick-in of distortion on the second track here alone, BBC Radio 1 is worth whatever Drag City want to charge for it. I’m dead serious. This isn’t a live release like something captured on someone’s phone at a random show. This is a professionally-recorded, in-studio offering of a band performing their work. It is a true documentation of their sound with album-quality fidelity and live performance. And I’m not going to take away from the dream-state sway beginnings of “Gethsemane” or Amos‘ drumming on “Cremation Ghat I” or the texture Trotter seamlessly weaves into the songs via keyboard throughout, but even on Om‘s earlier albums, when it was just bass/drums/vocals and so each of those elements was all the more showcased, I don’t know if the bass ever sounded so rich. If they put it out as an isolated track on its own — a bonus download or “dubplate” or whatever — I’d buy it happily. I mean it.
Opening with “Gethsemane” leads the way down the path. Its beginning is like a guided breathing exercise to clear the mind, and what unfolds from there in the wash of crash cymbals, the ping of ride, the pop of snare, the softly flowing bassline and the chant-like keyboard ahead of the first verse is duly immersive. Cisneros‘ voice arrives like a pilgrim one might meet in the wilderness, some kind of spiritual seeker who knows the place, can show the way toward safe passage while telling you stories that happen in dimensions most people can’t perceive. So you set off. Amos‘ drums are the footsteps, Trotter‘s keys the ground, and “Gethsemane” is both journey and destination. At 11 minutes, it’s both opener and longest inclusion (immediate points) on BBC Radio 1, and its sense of grace isn’t to be understated, nor the fluidity with which it feeds into “State of Non-Return,” which at 8:22 is two minutes longer than on Advaitic Songs, but still unfurls the aforementioned distortion about 45 seconds into the proceedings. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if they wanted to make the song last another 10 minutes, that’d be welcome as well. If it’s two, okay. I’ll take that.
Though it’s shorter than “Gethsemane” and backed up by “Cremation Ghat I” and “Cremation Ghat II,” “State of Non-Return” is an obvious focal point on BBC Radio 1 for its shift in tone and relative rhythmic push. Even putting aside the glorious rumble of Cisneros‘ making, it radiates energy as delivered here and presents a subtle momentum leading out of the first 10″ and en route to the second, which houses the final two tracks, one per side. “Cremation Ghat I” holds some of the momentum forth in Amos‘ drumming and the winding bassline that accompanies, but its run is brief at 3:51 and mostly instrumental, so the vibe has shifted accordingly, as, one supposes, it would have to. This leads to the drone-backed “Cremation Ghat II,” longer at 5:37, which closes out in perhaps giving some sense of arrival at the place to which the beginning of “Gethsemane” was setting off. Maybe (definitely) that’s putting too simplistic a narrative to it, and maybe the journey and destination are the same thing. I wouldn’t know. Maybe the sense of “going somewhere” is wrong altogether and the point is to be still.
But take from it either way that especially for a live recording, BBC Radio 1 is evocative in a way that allows for these kinds of varying interpretations. Certainly one would expect that the BBC knows what it’s doing in capturing a band playing, but it’s worth emphasizing this isn’t just performance-to-tape. It’s museum-quality. It’s a document of Om in 2019 and, for anyone who may have needed it, an underscore to the effect the band have had on the course of heavy over this decade which, one assumes, will only continue to spread into the next. Advaitic Songs is long since due for a follow-up, but BBC Radio 1 earns its place in Om‘s pantheon through its methodical, patient and serene atmosphere, showcasing Om as a band of singular, unmatched resonance. Recommended.
