Coil
Musick To Play In The Dark - Vol. 1

With Musick To Play In The Dark, Coil took a turn in their career: their sound was changing, becoming electronic, dense, minimal, gothic, and bizarre. I believe it is the pinnacle of their discography. Over time, this enigmatic work has become a true cult object. The chronic lack of reissues (only some Russian bootlegs were available while original CD copies ranged from a minimum of 70 to a maximum of 150 Euros) turned it into an object of desire for many collectors. Now, the independent American label Dais Records (specializing in avant-garde) has reissued, both on vinyl (in various colored editions) and on CD, the first volume of Musick To Play In The Dark and, on April 8, will also make the second available, which can already be pre-ordered in all formats, including digital. I had a controversial relationship with Coil: I appreciated some scattered songs from Scatology while I particularly adored a song like “Ostia” from Horse Rotorvator, but in general, I found their music too fragmented and schizophrenic. The entry of Tighpaulsandra (who had already collaborated with Julian Cope) was very important in changing their sound direction: finally, Coil played calm music for the entire duration of the album with synthesizers and electronics in the foreground, complemented by the charismatic deep voice of John Balance.

The first volume of Musick To Play In The Dark contains 6 tracks with a total duration of 60 minutes. The album opens with the sepulchral litany of “Are You Shivering?”: the threatening and dark narration of John Balance (almost reminiscent of one of the cenobites evoked by Clive Barker in Hellraiser) is accompanied by a gloomy organ "drone" and unsettling choirs that evoke "Lovecraftian" atmospheres. The following “Red Birds Will Fly Out of the East and Destroy Paris in a Night” is a tribute to the Tangerine Dream of the Virgin period and bridges the gap between German cosmic music and post-industrial. “Red Queen” turns out to be a splendid track dominated by a jazzy piano but with a sublime gothic "feeling," while “Broccoli” unfolds sinuously and then gives way to the ravings of “Strange Birds,” a kind of "collage" of unidentified sound sources where we hear the singing of birds from other planets. The closure is entrusted to the long “The Dreamer is Still Asleep,” an invocation to a dark and mysterious dreamer who could also be Cthulhu, given the influence of H.P. Lovecraft on the artistic aesthetic of Coil.

Coil were changing skins, demonstrating how their art was in constant evolution. They were exquisite craftsmen who knew how to alchemically unite different elements (industrial, dark-ambient, acid house, krautrock) achieving an original synthesis. Available on Bandcamp: https://coilofficial.bandcamp.com/album/musick-to-play-in-the-dark.