Sothiac: Tiamat (2021)

This EP finds three avant-garde and experimental artists working together to create something which is industrial, at the cutting edge of music, frightening in its intensity, yet also strangely compelling and other worldly. In recent years I have become a huge fan of Gridfailure, and in many ways this release is a cousin as opposed to a more direct relation, as unlike David Brenner, these guys are also utilizing woodwind and vocals. Comprising Pat Moonchy (vocals and synth), Lucky Liguori (keyboards) and veteran Paul Jolly (bass clarinet) here we have experimental music which is being taken to extremes. It is all about the arrangements, and while we have space-drive synth combining with low drones from the clarinet, the ear keeps being drawn to the vocals.

I was trying to think who Pat reminds me of, but in the end the closest I could get was Laurie Anderson, but I know that is not right either. Here is someone who has truly mastered the use of her voice as an instrument in its own right, and she is not singing in the traditional style, but is creating sounds in a high register which contrast greatly with what is happening around her, providing a chilling and frightening edge. The four songs on ‘Tiamat’ were played and recorded during lockdown, collaborating by sending takes back and forth and building the finished tracks via a reciprocal process of improvisation and composition. The result is something which feels organic, yet also metallic, not something which is living and breathing with blood running through its veins but something much darker and threatening altogether. One can imagine this being played to welcome people into Purgatory, to give them an idea of what is to confront them for eternity, while it would never make it onto a Horror soundtrack it would overwhelm the sense.

This really is a wonderful piece of work, pushing the musical boundaries and definition, and is definitely something quite special indeed.

Rating: 8/10