Current 93
Island

"Island" is an unconventional album within the vast and surprising discography of Current 93. It is certainly not their most representative work, but it undoubtedly testifies to a moment of great inspiration for David Tibet's creation. And for this reason, it rightfully deserves to be counted among the masterpieces this incredible musical entity has given us over the years.

Released in 1991, "Island" is the fruit of a long collaboration with Icelandic composer/musician Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson (or simply HOH), and it is a tribute to the charm, mystery, and beauty of this artist's homeland, Iceland, as well as to its hallucinatory, restless, unique landscapes dominated by the upheavals of ice and fire. Not coincidentally born as a soundtrack for the Icelandic film "Children of Nature," the project shines with a significant cinematic and scenic vein. This is certainly due to HOH's exquisitely Icelandic taste, who, deftly maneuvering between keyboards, harp, guitar, bass, and percussion, brings the music of Current closer to the intimate digressions and the expansive and ethereal atmospheres of early works by Mum and Sigur Ros.

Straddling a past of shadowy esoteric industrial and a future of bucolic apocalyptic folk, "Island" perfectly embodies the visionary soul that has always characterized Tibet's art, but this time adopting the language of new age, ambient, and electronic. What emerges is something truly magical and extremely evocative.

The album is a continuum of emotions and visions where the thirteen tracks follow one another like pearls along a single emotional flow. Airy keyboards, soft percussive carpets, and gentle noise that never becomes intrusive are the axes upon which the journey unfolds. The crystalline chimes, the caressing sound of the harp, the sweet female warblings (notably contributed by the indispensable Rose McDowall), and the melancholic singing of the violin (managed by the incomparable Joolie Wood) together create an unreal, dreamy, and at times fairy-tale dimension. Already settled on the intense tones of a little visionary poet, yet not entirely forgetful of the horrific past, Tibet, amidst fragile whispers, fervent declamations, and powerful crescendos, proves perfectly comfortable in the new musical dimension, offering us one of his best interpretations ever.

"Falling" marks the beginning of the journey, a flight in the gray skies of Iceland led by Tibet, aided on this occasion by the breathtaking incursions of the fantastic voice of a very young Bjork (yes, the Bjork you're thinking of!), already mature and ready for the big leap. In "The Dream of a Shadow of Smoke" we descend in a swoop, spiraling amid Iceland's mists and fogs, caressed by gentle electronics and the ethereal singing of a graceful maiden. "Lament for my Suzanne" (also present in the subsequent "Thunder Perfect Mind") is the sound of the slow melting of primordial ice, while in the sweet "Fields of Rape (Sightless Return)", originally present in "Dogs Blood Rising," the ghosts of the past return, but skillfully tamed and transformed into white doves of the sky.

In the superb "Passing Horses", Tibet unfurls his wings and launches into flights of fancy, masterfully supported by powerful orchestrations and solemn rising brass. The narrative continues with "Anyway, People Die", in my opinion the emotional peak of the work, where the monstrosities of "Nature Unveiled" are revived: sulfurous keyboards, dark distant bells, guitars and violin in unison accompanying a Mephistophelian Tibet in this headlong dive amidst the suffocating fumes of a slow lava flow. "Island" represents fragility, the precarious balance of elements: water, fire, earth, and air clash and combine in a universal harmony, and "To Blackened Earth" is the re-emergence from the dark cavities of rocks and soil. We are awakened by the enchanted violin of "Oh Merry-Go-Round", in which the ghost of Nick Cave hovers. Suddenly, the album goes wild: "Crowleymass Unveiled" is a remix of the "Crowleymass" from the eponymous EP, presenting Tibet in the unusual guise of a rapper (???). A bizarre track with an inanely foolish text ("Ok boys and girl, let's go! Wow!" are the words with which Tibet invites us to a mad dance) that, taken by itself, isn’t even bad, showcasing the more self-deprecating side of Current, but fundamentally spoils the tense and melancholic atmosphere the first eight tracks had patiently woven.

Unfortunately, the surprises do not stop here: "Paperback Honey" is a funny (and at times hilarious) pop track with tropical vibes and unpredictable cha cha cha twists (!!!), while "The Fall of Christopher Robin", the weakest piece of the collection, moves along the lines of somewhat clumsy electronics. Things are set right by the two concluding tracks, "Fields of Rape and Smoke", sung in Icelandic, and the instrumental reprise "Merry-Go-Round and Around": it’s the enchanted violin of Wood and the majestic organ of HOH that perform the proper farewell rite of this unmissable album that I warmly recommend to all lovers of the most visionary and dreamy music.

Safe travels to all.