MOTHLITE
THE FLAX OF REVERIE (SOUTHERN)
The Stan Brakhage film Mothlight comprised insects, leaves and other natural detritus fixed directly onto celluloid, creating what Brakhage called 'found foliage'.
With their debut album, The Flax Of Reverie, Mothlite reflect both the form and process of Brakhage's work, propelling listeners down the rabbit hole into a world of wilderness and wyrd that is at once English and entirely other.
Their use of sonic metamorphosis shifts from shimmering nocturnal panoramas to Escher-like interiors and rooms within rooms; from incandescent polar horizons to dark, tremulous forests.
The album's six pieces encompass elements as diverse as choral madrigals cascading with strings, the melody and dissonance of Arvo Part and Moondog and the cinematic, studio-asinstrument manipulations of Pink Floyd, Coil, Cocteau Twins and late period Talk Talk.
Woodwind and percussion take their cue from the devotional mantras of Alice Coltrane and Albert Ayler.
O'Sullivan's words are of the same bloodline as Jorge Luis Borges, Lewis Carroll and Henry Williamson.
Flax Of Reverie's cast of musicians includes clarinet/saxophone virtuoso Gilad Atzmon (Robert Wyatt, The Blockheads), bassoonist Chloe Herington (Chrome Hoof), violinist Sara Hubrich (Miasma & The Carousel Of Headless Horses) and drummer Jaime Gomez Arrellano.