HERE IS WHERE WE USED TO SING

HERE IS WHERE WE USED TO SING

So as I mentioned in my Fovea Hex last review, this is not progressive electronic music as such. So Berlin School expectants, this is even less P/E than their previous compilation.

That established let me make some references to what to expect in this "HERE IS WHERE WE USED TO SING", 2010, release.

The characteristical melancholy of Irish music floats through the air, the ethereal quality of acoustic instruments is ever present and emphasized, so expect remarkable cello playing by the great Julia Kent (honorable guest in this effort) as John Contreras also on cello, alongside founder member Clodagh Simonds' piano and vocals with Cora Venus Lunny's violin threading bright and obcure ambients crossed between female singing and choruses, detailed by the again present Brian Eno and Colin Potter, accompanied here and there with Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo's guitar and Marco Schiavo's drums and percussions.

As far as making some kind of musical comparison I will think of Loreena McKennitt but stripped down to less baroque terms, a much less sugarly coated Enya, tainted with the detached, obscure and sad atmospheres of "Love Is Colder Than Death" or "Black Tape for a Blue Girl" or the closer to prog "No Man" and the ever present "This Mortal Coil's" mutability of personnel and "darkness" in musical language and intention.

****4 PA stars.

In the world, there are many artists and bands that go unrecognized that in a perfect world, would have the potential to either change music, or at least create a new faction of it. One of those bands that are criminally underappreciated, even in prog circles, is Fovea Hex. Headed over by Irish singer Clodagh Simonds, Fovea Hex is more than just an electronic progressive band as suggested by the Archives. But then, it would be difficult to classify their music.

Founder Simonds originally became a critically acclaimed musician and vocalist when she was a member of the cult Irish psych-folk band Mellow Candle, who released their only album back in 1972 when she was only 15 years old. She also was a background singer for Mike Oldfield's classic albums 'Tubular Bells', 'Hergest Ridge' and 'Ommadawn'. All of these years later, she has returned as the founder of Fovea Hex supported by Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, Steven Wilson, David Lynch and others. With friends like that, how could you not be amazing?

Fovea Hex is a collective, and each of the previously mentioned artists have either guested on the past albums and EPs or, in Lynch's case, performed live as part of his exhibition known as 'The Air is On Fire'. In 2011, the collective released it's only full-length album, the absolutely beautiful and breathtaking 'Here is Where We Used to Sing'. It is definitely a crime as to how this album has been ignored by the public, including progressive and experimental music lovers. Critics, on the other hand, have only given acclaim for this album and for the various EPs the band has released.

The album is quiet, lovely and also very ominous. Vocal harmonies are stunning, as in the track 'A Hymn to Sulpher', a tense and quietly throbbing piece of art that will sweep you away into the dark waves of the Irish sea, sucking you in to it's dangerous, but somehow comforting blackness, but you'll notice that you go along willingly. The violin/synth drones overlayed by a pensive piano will also lure you away even with this short and melancholic instrumental "Love for the Uncertain". If ever there was a siren, it would be in Simonds beautiful vocals as in the album opener 'Far From Here' and the stunningly beautiful 'Jewelled Eyes' with harmonies that come straight from heaven. Other songs like 'The Diamonds' and 'Brisance, My Baby' will also remind one somewhat of Dead Can Dance especially in their drone-like texture and minimal structures that allow Simonds vocals to shine even more distinctly. Her vocals are somewhere between ethereal and down to earth placing her in a position that is only unique to her.

This album, with its beautiful instrumentation and vocalizing, is my favorite from 2011. Personally, I've always placed it closer to a progressive folk sound more than an electronic sound, but there is a mix of both electronic and acoustic here that tends to lean more towards the folk and otherworldly sounds of Current 93 and Dead Can Dance, with enough psychedelic feel to easily feel at home among bands such as these. It still amazes me at how many people are unaware of this band. As for myself, I highly recommend this album, but for lovers of electronic and/or folk music, you'll immediately want to hear everything else by the band. It's time that this collective no longer goes unheard.