LASHTAL

This early Current 93 EP captures some of David Tibet's earliest work under the name, recorded in 1982 just as he was emerging from the shadow of Psychic TV. With John Balance of Coil helping out, Tibet crafts a strange tribal ambient atmosphere with snarling industrial electronics rarely far away. The overall is of a secret recording made of a strange ritual performed somewhere in an abandoned factory. It is a brief but intriguing statement of intent which puts Tibet's mystical interests at front and centre and derives ample musical inspiration from them. Thrifty collectors may wish to be aware that two of the three tracks where tacked onto some CD editions of Nature Unveiled as bonus tracks.

Technically the second release by David Tibet's CURRENT 93 as the first one was a split called "Mi-Mort" with Nurse With Wound, although Tibet only carried one of the four tracks so for my money, i'd call the LASHTAL EP the true debut. While CURRENT 93 has become known for their unique take on progressive neofolk, in the beginning they very much in the industrial ritual ambient world. This one was only released as a vinyl 12" in the 80s and has pretty much fallen into obscurity, dwarfed by CURRENT 93's prolific canon.

Straight out of Nurse With Wound and Psychic TV, Tibet's solo project which he called CURRENT 93 was a collective that was designed to focus on Tibet's obsessions, such as Christianity and Thelema, the organization started by Aleister Crowley and the earliest sounds of CURRENT 93 are constructed to honor the ritualistic sex magic that was a part of his practices. The electro-industrial pioneers Coil also sprang from this same wellspring of early experimental artists and John Balance participated in this EP and other the early dark tribal ambient albums of CURRENT 93. Fritz Hääman of 23 Skidoo is on this one.

LASHTAL (or more stylistically written LAShTAL) is a short mini-EP that only consists of three short tracks. The title track is a startling noisy affair with a screeching something beginning the chilling blood curdling-fest that continuously morphs into a collage effect of tribal drumming, ambient synthesizers, nonsensical or at least unintelligible vocal conversations and shrill noise loops that jump in and out of the scene. This particular track sounds a lot like what Coil would utilize on their freaked out noise trips so i would suspect that John Balance was the main mastermind behind this one.

"Salt" also enters a screeching noise and what follows is similar to the title track. A steady tribal drumbeat and some ambient noise. There is a faint flute in the background and more devilish vocalizations that occasional jump in. Although much like the title track, a little colder and detached with a collage effect of noise, disparate musical scatterings and the shrill industrial loop that pierces the soul like an ice pick.

"Caresse" is a detached drone noise and some "chirping" sounds with some irregular percussive beats. A random detached feel brings a darkened chamber devoid of hope to mind. Cold and sparse like the farthest reaches of space. LASHTAL is more like a 90s Coil album than what CURRENT 93 would become and not as sophisticated as the industrial collage soundscapes created on "Nature Revealed" or "Dogs Blood Rising" but certainly an entertaining listen if you are interested in the connecting material from Tibet's Psychic TV and Nurse With Wound days to his own CURRENT 93 project.