Those of you out there familiar with the work of cult Belgians Tuxedo Moon will probably be au fait with cult performance artist/ group member WINSTON TONG.
"Miserere" (that's "Mercy" en Anglais) is a long-lost soundtrack album, originally released in 1985. It was composed for a modern ballet of the same name, based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, with the stage version directed by Pierre Droulers. With lyrics written by Tong and music co-written with Persian-born dancer/ vocalist Sussan Deyhim, the end result is hypnotic, unsettling and definitely NOT for the faint-hearted.
Many of you may automatically switch off when I tell you these 16 pieces were composed for voices alone, but while the effect can be jarring, like on short, haranguing tracks such as "Vicious Circle", in other areas the effect is mesmerising and intoxicating. For example, the eerie hum set up by the supernaturally spooky "Orpheo Walks" is stunning and genuinely otherworldly.
Understandably, regular rock comparisons are rendered wholly redundant by the majority of this. The CD booklet (as lovingly presented as ever by LTM) provids a handy translation, but the album is sung/narrated entirely in French and sounds not dissimilar at times to the weird world celebrated by The Young Gods when they were doing amazing, symphonic stuff like "La Fille de la Mort" in the days before they discovered The Stooges.
|
Personally, your reviewer found parts of "Miserere" too much to take. The voices mesh and create truly disquieting things like "Soliloque" and the lengthy "Metropolises", where an unexpected tape buzz only adds to the unsettling atmosphere, but unlike Minny Pops, where the accented Continental vocals only add to the attraction, some of the end results are too oblique and difficult to truly immerse yourself in, regardless of "Miserere"s undoubted uncompromising artistic goals.
Pop and performance art are uneasy bedfellows at best, and while "Miserere" thankfully doesn't encourage the likes of Michael Clarke to spring to mind, its' unremitting darkness is tough to take to heart. Approach with caution.
|
