DEVOTIONAL SONGS by SHACKLETON WITH ERNESTO TOMASINI

Shackleton's most expansive, ecstatic and hallucinatory music to dateFour longform pieces developing the free-flowing compositional aesthetic of his recent Deliverance series and Powerplant performances: fiery rhythmic-melodic turbulence channeling Congotronics way to the east The pairing with Tomasini � whose history spans experimental theatre, cabaret and collaborations with Julia Kent and David Tibet, among many others � is a match made in heaven. With his four-octave voice swooping from deep growl to piercing falsetto, Tomasini's presence both heightens the taste for the theatrical that�s always been integral to Shackleton�s music, and makes explicit the latter�s kinship to the occult energies of the UK�s post-industrial underground. As the title suggests, these are shadowy songs rich with allusions to bodily ritual and psychic exploration, with Tomasini�s lyrics framed by luminous whirls of hand-struck drums and synthetic gamelan, bells and tumbling organ melodies. You Are The One escalates from delicate choral chant to full-bore psychedelic organ freakout; Rinse Out All Contaminants is a slow incantation, to purge all negative thoughts; the melodies of Father You Have Left Me are smudged like early Steve Reich, then burned out by snarling subs; and the magnificent Twelve Shared Addictions balances elliptical melodies like spinning plates, gradually unfurling into a breakneck storm of voice and hammered keys.