Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang

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5...according to our Phil on Wed 27 Jul, 2011.

When I was a kid, the cock of our school was called Jerome O'Malley and absolutely everyone (teachers included) was shit scared of him. Fast forward to adult life and whenever I hear of Stephen O'Malley I get the image of Jerome smashing someone's face in. I think this is the problem I have with things O'Malley related. Like this record for example which is on his curated label Ideologic Organ which is part of the Editions Mego label. I'm midway through the first track of this achingly beautiful record and I'm starting to calm down a little. On this record Jessika sings and Eyvind plays the viola and that's pretty much yer lot bar a bit of percussion appearing later on. As I said earlier it's achingly beautiful. Jessika's voice is melty and you couldn't possibly fail to be impressed. That coupled with the minimal and sombre viola playing makes for a mardy sounding record indeed. The album has a very Gaelic feel to it and it's also very oldee worldee sounding (some of this wouldn't sound out of place on the Lord of The Rings soundtrack). It's a very spiritual sounding record which is ultimately one of the most emotive and moving records I've heard in a while. Right, I'm off to learn elvish now.

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Recorded, mixed and mastered at the Cove, Vashon Island, WA & Aleph Studios, Seattle, WA by Mell Dettmer August 2005.

Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin May 2011.

Jessika Kenney (voice)
Eyvind Kang (Viola)
Written by Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang (1, 3, 4) & traditional (2, 5)
Speculum Magorum by Giordano Bruno.

Jessika Kenney is a vocalist known for her haunting timbral sense, as well as her profound interpretation of vocal traditions. Eyvind Kang is a violist for whom the act of music and learning is a spiritual discipline. Aestuarium is a meditation on a psalm of lamentation and the unary tone in the metaphor of salt and fresh water, inspired by Gaelic psalmery, Tibetan notational gestures, and the microtonality of the tetrachord.

Recorded on the shore of Colvos Passage in 2005 by renowned engineer Mell Dettmer.

Stephen O'Malley comments: "Amongst many other amazing pieces Jessika & Eyvind collaborated on SUNN O)))'s "Monoliths & Dimensions" album, Jessika leading the choir on the piece "Big Church" and Eyvind composing the acoustic arrangements for "Big Church" & "Alice". I learned an immense amount about music through these collaborations, specifically the idea of Spectral music through research and discussion/reference points of composers such as Grisey and Murail. Aestuarium is a beautiful piece of minimalist spectral music which has brought great pleasure to my ears over the years."

Originally released on CD by Endless Records 2005.

Ideologic Organ curation and art direction by Stephen O’Malley, manufactured and distributed by Editions Mego.