Current 93 – Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain (Southern)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
David Tibet, mastermind behind everything Current 93 for the past, oh I don’t know... was there ever a time without Current 93? Surely this stuff crawled out of the swamps? Anyway, him. He’s a mad bastard. But he’s also a funny one. The message that opens my copy of this record, but presumably not yours, is read by a child. It goes like this: “This is a promotional CD. Anyone illegally selling, copying, uploading or downloading this material is condemned to eternal hell fire. Happy listening, God is love.”
It’s OK to laugh, because you’re meant to. Moments of light relief simply have to pepper what would otherwise be an impenetrable listen, overflowing with dissonance and themes that initially appear wholly unholy, the sound of instruments being tortured by a new age lunatic. Nothing new for Current 93, you might think. But in a way, it is...
Though it is indeed yet another considerable stylistic leap away from his other material (each instance of Current 93 releasing a record has seen Tibet shift his sonic and lyrical focus quite unpredictably, mincing between folk and industrial music and themes covering everything from Christianity and Nazism to Enid Blyton’s Noddy, and kittens), it’s the things that remain the same that will thrill you most about this totally engrossing record. Mainly, I mean the fact that neither you nor I will ever have Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain figured out, ever, ever, EVER – just like you’ll never have a complete comprehension of any of David Tibet’s albums simply because you are not David Tibet. This means that even though it’s a huge aesthetic shift in his work towards crunchy guitar squall and metallic drones, it remains the case that if you enjoyed anything he’s done in the past, you’ll get your kicks from this too.
And I like to think that one of my ways of getting said kicks from Current 93 records, namely finding them really, really funny, is actually completely OK. Read that child’s spoken word intro (which also appears at the end of my LP too, just for clarity). He’s taking the piss, isn’t he? And loving it! I once saw him perform ‘Party Hard’ with Andrew WK, who plays bass on this record. And the distant female moans? They’re present courtesy of a lady named Sasha Grey, who’s made a living out of letting people move their genitals in and out of hers on camera. The recording sessions for this one must have been a f**king hoot.
But of course, he’s also deadly, terrifyingly serious, and he’ll have spent ages putting together bat-sh*t crazy lines like “I saw the ghost train fake orgasm for the cliffs!” and finding them a suitable place in the overarching narrative of the titular Aleph that weaves its incomprehensible way through the album’s 53 minutes. This is a record I love, though it tells a tale I still don’t understand. Nonetheless, in its relentlessness, persistent discomfort and wry perversity, I find it fascinating, frightening, and funny as hell. Happy listening. God is love.
Artists in this article: Current 93
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