From: Al Crawford <awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk>
Subject: Review: SPK - Zamia Lehmanni
Followup-To: rec.music.industrial
Originator: recmusic@galaxy
Reply-To: Al Crawford <awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: The University Of Edinburgh - Department Of Computer Science
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 08:11:12 GMT

SPK	Zamia Lehmanni - Songs Of Byzantine Flowers	Mute SPK 3 CD [UK]

	Total Running Time: 48 min 19 sec

	1.	Invocation				5:16
	2.	Palms Crossed In Sorrow			5:05
	3.	Romanz In Moll				4:15
	4.	In The Dying Moments			6:42
	5.	In Flagrante Delicto			7:32
	6.	Alocasia Metallica			6:03
	7.	Necropolis				5:28
	8.	The Garden Of Earthly Delights		3:17
	9.	The Doctrine Of Eternal Ice		4:25

Ah, a definite improvement. My experience of SPK to date had been limited
to the 1987 album _Digitalis Ambigua : Gold And Poison_, an odd beast that
mixed beautiful atmospheric pieces with a misbegotten bunch of
industrialised disco sung either by Graeme Revell himself (a shame, since
he can't) or by two female backing vocalists (through their noses).

This, a slightly earlier album from 1985-6 which has just been released on
CD by Mute's Grey Area subsidiary, appears to have been the source of those
beautiful atmospheric pieces and, fortunately, not of of the misbegotten
industrialised disco. _Zamia Lehmanni_ has five tracks in common with
_Digitalis Ambigua_. Most of these seems to be very slightly different in
one way or another but not enough to matter.

So what exactly constitutes a "beautiful atmospheric piece"? In the case of
_Zamia Lehmanni_ it varies from track to track, but you can get a feel for
this *particular* brand of atmospheric beauty by just a brief scan through
some of the instruments used. The Choir Of The Russian Old Orthodox Church
Of The Holy Annunciation-Assumption anybody? How about Javanese flute,
Balinese puppet gamelan and bell tree? Orchestra? Prophet? (presumably
referring to a synth and not to a religious visionary, although given some
of the vocal samples here...) Sheet metal! Gregorian chants! Factory horns!
Ambience! Oh yes, this album includes several different forms of ambience,
no corners cut here, no skimping on the fine details.

It's fairly obvious, both from the subtitle and the sound (as well as the
fact that it *says so* in the sleeve notes) that Revell has looked east for
his source material. Well, since he's in Australia, I guess it would be
more accurate to say he's looked, umm, approximately north-northwestish but
I'm sure you get the idea. Sometimes he's sourced directly (sampled chants
and voices), sometimes less directly (the use of exotic instruments), but
the end result is a fascinating fusion of a "western" musical aesthetic
(much of which seems to have been borrowed from elsewhere anyway) with
near, middle and far eastern influences. The results may not always be
musical to western ears, but they're never less than fascinating and
frequently staggeringly beautiful.

Highpoints? None! For something to be a highpoint it has to stand clear of
everything else, but that's just not possible here since the overall
standard is so good. The entire album is just one great big highpoint.
Sinan (one of the female vocalists who sinally brutalised our ears on
_Digitalis Ambigua_) does appear in a number of places, but it's only on
"In The Dying Moments" that her vocal contribution grates. The other
notable vocal part is that of Jan Thornton, who sings on "In Flagrante
Delicto", probably the most westernised track, a haunting combination of
cello, operatic vocals, choir effects and railway yard ambience.

Others to watch out for include the wonderful "Palms Crossed In Sorrow"
which mutates from a truly anguished instrumental (which fits the title
perfectly) into a more rhythmic combination of African flutes, chants and
woodblocks and "Romanz In Moll" which claims to be based around printing
factory ambience, but I'm sure there's a snore in there somewhere too.
You'd never have believed that listening to someone snore could be such a
moving experience. Again, the music has a deeply sad, meditational feel.
Definitely music for listening to on headphones in a darkened room.

In conclusion - a very different, very beautiful album.

Erland Rating: +3
Crawford Rating: Gold/Guava/Pekinese

--
			Al Crawford - awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk
	  Department Of Computer Science, The University of Edinburgh
   Rm 1410, JCMB, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Rd, EDINBURGH, EH9 3JZ, Scotland
	     Tel: +44 (0) 31 650 5165  Fax: +44 (0) 31 667 7209

x-gateway: rodan.UU.NET from love-hounds to rec.music.gaffa; Tue, 1 Sep 1992 18:14:33 EDT
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 18:13:38 -0400
From: clarkec@sfu.ca (David Gordon Clarke)
Errors-To: Love-Hounds-request@uunet.uu.net
Subject: Re: Another famous Kate fan...
Message-ID: <1992Sep1.221321.9526@sfu.ca>