CURRENT 93 & THOMAS LIGOTTI: IN A FOREIGN TOWN, IN A FOREIGN LAND

This is a bit of a side-project for Current 93, with David Tibet stepping back to the dark ambient territories that the project had begun in but had largely drifted away from for the past decade. The inspiration for this was a chance to work with Thomas Ligotti, the legendarily reclusive horror author; the four pieces here are composed as a soundtrack to a clutch of four stories that accompanied the original release. (They have since been reprinted in Ligotti's excellent collection Teatro Grottesco).

Interestingly, going away from ambient music and coming back seems to have allowed Current 93 to produce a rather different piece from they once would have; there's a bit more drone to it and much less abrasiveness, the atmosphere - in keeping with Ligotti's style - being more of a slowly and gently developing dread than a sudden shocking terror. It shows more restraint and subtlety than, say, the all-out assault of Nature Unveiled, and on that level I find it an interesting and worthwhile exercise in returning to the old stomping ground with several years' worth of experience and growth away from it.