THE CHILD GARDEN

Sad to say this is altogether the first PA review for this artist residing in Los Angeles. The mysterious background of Klaus Morlock and his music is a very peculiar case mixing fact and fiction. For starters, the name may be a pseudonym. The main thing is that he has made soundtracks to unexisting horror films, at least 12 albums between 2014 and 2020. His Bandcamp page is thoroughly well done and gives access to his digital albums. Many of them are easily found also from Youtube. I jump straight into one of them, without being able to evaluate it against Morlock's other output.

Isn't that cover art a Renaissance era painting, perhaps by Sandro Botticelli or Hieronymus Bosch? The Child Garden is Klaus Morlock's second album. According to Bandcamp, "Evidence for the existence of the Child Garden cult dates back to the 14th Century. However, this album is a musical expression of the strangeness that befell the West Country during the scalding summer of 1976." What has the year 1976 to do with this music remains another mystery.

The brief (31:41) album has thirteen tracks. 'Quick, Said the Bird' contains some birdsong effects added to the ghostly, heavily echoed soundscape of layered keyboards. The melody is very melancholic. 'Alison Is Mine' has a threatening atmosphere finished with cinematic voice snippets. The thumping drum beat suddenly ends and we're into something like early kosmiche Musik. 'First Gathering' is a mesmerizing tune full of sad Mellotron sounds, especially the flute tone. The next short track features a frail male singing, and it sounds -- like much of the entire album -- deliberately worn-out, as if the music came from ancient times. No old instruments are used per se, the instrumentation lists only keyboards, organ, bass, percussion and effects.

The music is soaked with melancholia, mystery and a strange feeling of everything having to do with ancient religious myths or something. I find it difficult to make exact musical references as I don't actively listen to this kind of music. If I remember right, Miranda Sex Garden is something similar, and as I referred earlier, there are some allusions to spacey Krautrock such as the early 70's Tangerine Dream or Klaus Schulze, only in a more Gothic setting and with effects of human voices and others. Dead Can Dance may have some kindred spirit but is much closer to accessible pop. Whether or not a real Mellotron is used, that is one of the dominant "worn-out" sounds.

I can't say I'd wish to listen to this stuff much longer. In the end, in all its cold and echoey strangeness, it's like a fever dream that makes you feel nauseatic. In theory the rating could be almost anything from excellent to poor, depending on how you look at it. It definitely would be interesting to read other progheads' receptions for Klaus Morlock albums.