Twilight Altar by Sunlight Altar
“Twilight Altar” might be the quietest album we have featured here so far, but it does certainly not lack in intensity. These five songs feel almost sacred and unworldly, like music you would expect to hear at a religious ceremony. The question, however, would be which religion we are talking about here.
The songs feel ancient, Celtic or Gaelic maybe, but then there are clear Gregorian and modern folk influences as well. The dominant instrument is an acoustic guitar, with strings, organ and accordion providing added melodic depth on occasion, while percussion is used very sparingly until the last song.
Vocalist Joost Vervoort’s bright and clear, yet almost aspirated voice is very centered and adds to the feeling of witnessing a ritual of some kind. He sounds aloof and distant, with a slight melancholia. The lyrics are vague enough to allow the listener their own interpretations but to me, they seem to speak about connections between this world and another, higher plane of consciousness.
Then there’s the use of atmospheric effects that fill out the soundscape.The album opens with the sound of heavy winds, slightly in the distance; on later tracks sounds of static and droning are used and instead of traditional vocal harmonies, layered whispers are incorporated. All of this results in a sensation of space, as if the audience is listening to these musicians in a cathedral. There are sounds seemingly coming from every direction, yet they are clearly separated in the outstanding mix.
Overall, I think this is excellent music and a production with an incredible sense of space. This is not music for every day to me, but something I’d listen to when I want to have the sensation of distance from earthly matters. It’s an almost meditative, timeless sound, something to get lost and drift in for a few minutes. There is a lot of emotion in this, but it is a subdued one; distant and mournful. And it sounds simply fantastic!
But if you are an enjoyer of just Folk Music you definitely won’t be disappointed either as it is a damn good Folk album in it’s own right. Kinda reminds me of Nick Drake in places, both musically as well as in the vocal delivery at times. And add to that the lovely vibrato that the vocalist at times employs and it just gives the vocal performance such a gorgeous sense of frailty. Quite moving.
Musically the music possesses a meandering nature by which I don’t mean to say it is directionless but rather that it always seems to be moving and evolving. The diverse and varied instrumentation present in the background definitely helps with this as it helps in successfully building up the rich atmosphere and keeps it moving at the same time.
Dark folk. It almost feels invasive to listen to. Like you have stumbled into some ancient dwelling and ritual. Dark, menacing, crushingly intimate. The sense of space and atmosphere is palpable. IT feels smoky and dark. The use of drones scaffold that sense of something ancient. It feels Folk horror, it has that cinematic, sound design, that sensibility. I could hear this on Ben Wheatley’s Kill List or The Witch by Robert Eggers, it had me thinking of a film called The Ritual from 2017. Using it’s pulsating, ominous, stygian and and unnerving unknowing, It develops to expose it’s innards. Shuffling, hunched shamanic and enticing.
It’s simple in it’s structure and lyrical content but the recording, mixing and production realize the ideas perfectly. Vocals act as preacher and shaman while the guitars and accordion? work with the percussive elements and found sound sound design. They interweave like wattle and daub. There’s a musicality here that reminds me of Can and those bands from the 70s who could just settle into a groove and loop on an idea because it was just too damn good to move away from.
If this was a movie I’d watch the shit out of it. The more I listen the more I am impressed.