Ceremony [CD]

 It begins with the sound of a church organ, an arpeggio played on the lower notes, a melody teased out in the higher register, before a snare drum beats out an ominous, stuttering tattoo. Three minutes in, guitars begin to rumble like clouds gathering on the horizon, the melody slowly swelling, threatening to tear the sky apart. This is Anna von Hausswolff’s ‘Epitaph Of Theodor’, and as dramatic, instrumental openings to albums go, it’s close to overwhelming. But it’s followed by something even more intense: ‘Deathbed’, which growls and resonates sinisterly before shards of metallic thunder shatter the drones and a funereal beat forces the song to lurch forward. Only after some four and a half minutes of this ferocious clamour do we hear a human voice, and it’s unleashed with a fierce power, rising and swooping, a vast bird pursuing its prey until the song reaches its final, unexpectedly triumphant climax.

Tracklist

1 Epitaph Of Theodor
2 Deathbed
3 Mountains Crave
4 Goodbye
5 Red Sun
6 Epitaph Of Daniel
7 No Body
8 Liturgy Of Light
9 Harmonica
10 Ocean
11 Sova
12 Funeral For My Future Children
13 Sun Rise