Album: Periapt
Artist: Akkad the Orphic Priest (A.T.O.P)
Label: Somewhere Cold Records
Catalogue no: N/A
Tracklist:
1. Athame
2. Bezoar
3. Cauldron
4. Cloak
5. Besom
6. Madstone
7. Tabasheer
(ft. Chad Mossholder)
Somewhere Cold Records is
based out of Shelbyville, Kentucky in the US, and specialise in in the lighter
end of the ambient spectrum and, considering that my most recent review was of
a darkly sacral/cosmic/ritual ambient nature it appears only natural that I
should continue in that vein while my mind is still on a completely different
plane. And my word, this occult/drone ambient album is just the thing to
sustain the mood my headspace appears to be in today, plus it stays away from
any mawkish new-ageyness instead tending towards the upper reaches of the
spiritual exosphere. A periapt is an object that by its very nature is magical
in effect, in other words an object in the nature of an amulet or charm.
Indeed, glancing at the tracklist one can easily see how the objects enumerated
can be thought of as magical in nature, each one having a specific meaning to
the people utilising them, with effects that differ only insofar as the user’s
beliefs dictate.
The album, as can be
gleamed from the song titles, tends towards the pagan side of the occult,
although the treatment music-wise is anything but, rather it utilises swelling
and sustained drones that hone in on those parts of the human mind and soul
which are prone to thoughts and feelings of the sacred. In some respects,
particularly on this album, the titles are meaningless and are probably nothing
more than a way of fulfilling our need for categorisation and naming things.
For me the most important aspect is the feeling that each piece evokes, and
music of this nature appears to speak to me directly (as does most ambient in
all its glorious subgenres). The other important facet is answering the
question “Where is this going to take me?”. And this selection provides a
soundtrack for an inner journey, an accompaniment to a spiritual roadtrip if
you like.
Every journey has to
begin with a first step, and in this case that first step is the opening track
‘Athame’ (a ritual knife for use in ceremonial magic). Organic organ chords,
tinged with slight distortion, opens A.T.O.P’s account, outlining for us his
approach to what in effect are gargantuan slices of spatial and spiritual
concepts. Any other approach I feel would fall short of the mark. This piece,
as with most of the others on here with one or two exceptions, never once touches
the ground, instead wafting loftily above our heads where the air and
materiality are thinner and more refined. ‘Bezoar’ (a reddish-brown stone,
created from secretions in an animal’s stomachs, used as an antidote to
poisons) swoops down to a lower register but still atmospheric enough to float
well above the mundanity and materiality of earthly life and existence. This
one shimmers like the stars do at night, accompanied by high-pitched harmonic
feedback that’s as sweet as it’s possible to imagine. Imagine floating castles
made entirely of light, the habitations of beings equally composed of light –
that’s what this track conjures up for me. This is bliss incarnate.
‘Cauldron’, the next
track, spins higher up into the sky again, layers of organ chords and
harmonics, combining to create a blue sky and white cloud panorama extending as
far as one can see in all directions. Those cloud banks rise ever higher,
swirling and mutating, evolving constantly to assume new shapes and patterns.
Perhaps the shapes we see in them are their means of communicating with us,
telling us of the wonders they’ve beheld both on the ground below them and in
the heavens above. The only problem is that we humans are deaf and blind to
their words and visions, thinking them merely pretty superficialities meant to
entertain dreamers and artists. Perhaps the cauldron referred to here is the
cauldron of creation, the bottomless container of natural imagination.
‘Cloak’ envelops us next
in its folds of lushly dark velvetiness, a virtual blanket of protection
swirling around us. Whether it’s protection from the weather or protection from
inimical forces, the intent is the same: providing a prophylactic against
something we wish to avoid or keep away from us. Its intent is mostly
beneficial, but cloaks can also be used for nefarious purposes, so there is a
duality involved here. ‘Besom’ is a broom or a sweeping brush, used to clean
floors of dust and detritus, but magically-speaking it can used as a metaphor
for sweeping away negative influences, powers, and people. Of all the pieces on
here, so far at least, it’s the most obviously ‘musical’, orchestral sweeps and
tinkling accents, birdsong, and susurrating drones. It can almost be termed
pastoral, in the sense that it elicits visions of the countryside and nature,
where the latter exists in untrammelled and explosive profusion. Indeed, I felt
as if I was being carried aloft myself, swooping over endless green vistas,
vistas absent of any human intrusion or artifice. The endless carpet of
creation below inspires relaxation and also meditation, sparking off thoughts
on why we as a species seem hell-bent on destruction and defilement.
The penultimate track is
‘Madstone’, a very similar magical artefact to a bezoar which can cure humans
of a deleterious illness, in this case rabies (if pressed into an animal bite).
Some researchers have speculated that it’s either a type of stone, or a
vegetative substance. This one feels earthy and organic, delineating a
substance gleaned from the very soil itself and naturally imbued with
medicinal, curative, and magical properties. Plangent, mournful tones
predominate here, echoing and trailing off into a species of distortion.
Finally we reach the last track, ‘Tabasheer’, which is defined as a white or
translucent substance found in bamboo, used in traditional Ayurvedic, Unani,
and Chinese medicine. This one is certainly the oddest track on here, sounding
at times random and atonal, as well as improvised, with metallic effects that
appear as if recorded through a drainpipe. It invests it with a truly alien
timbre, something akin to a strange but bizarrely melodious language, one that
was perhaps spoken when the world was much younger.
Very much an album placed
firmly for the most part in the stratospheric heights, but also cognisant of
the fact that magic can also be found here on the ground, a notion that perhaps
is only explored too briefly. As I averred above in my opening paragraph,
there’s none of the cloying new-age sweetness evident that some practitioners
of ambient seem to employ, instead there are multiple layers of different
shades of brightness (and darkness, if truth be told) that keep it from being
monotonous and uninteresting (something which this definitely isn’t). This is my first encounter with
Somewhere Cold Records’ output, which serves to whet my appetite to explore
their catalogue of releases in deeper detail. This ticked all the right boxes
for me and, whilst some might be put
off by the ambient label, I can guarantee that it’s absolutely worth dipping
your toes into.
Available as a digital
album and stream, and also as a CD, from here:
https://akkadtheorphicpriest.bandcamp.com/album/periapt
Other releases from Somewhere Cold can be found here:
Other releases from Somewhere Cold can be found here:
Psymon Marshall 2019.
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