Howden-Wakeford
Wormwood

THE REVIEW

In 2000, the first "duo" project between Tony Wakeford and Matt Howden (the mind behind Sieben, and at the time, the violinist for Sol Invictus) was a mostly instrumental album dedicated to two runes: Three Nine fit into the tradition of depraved and swiftly avant-garde ambient music pursued by Wakeford since his 1992 collaboration with friend Steven Stapleton (Nurse With Wound); unfortunately, the album was a moderate failure, suspended in unresolved tension and mostly athematic/atonal, crafted on synthetic (or acoustic) foundations suitable for Howden's violin flights but lacking compositional coherence and, even less, melodic interest.

Wormwood (2003) is a completely different album: it fits right from the start, from the title - for those who can immediately decipher it - into the tradition of "apocalyptic" singer-songwriter work inaugurated by the Jew Bob "Dylan" Zimmerman (A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall), and it is indeed an entire "concept album" on the Apocalypse of John; "Wormwood" is the arthemisia absinthium, which muddies and makes the waters bitter and poisonous in the apocalyptic vision of the young evangelist. Now, without delving into the main contradiction (the mind of Sol Invictus contemplating an album with a blatantly biblical theme), it is clear that Wakeford is more capable of mastering the format, especially since most of the songs adhere to the song form, to which good Tony is anchored - albeit reluctantly - by his compositional deficiencies (known to listeners of his unfortunate project "L' Orchestre Noir").

Adding to this are the intricate and highly competent arrangements born from the mind of Matt Howden, making it evident that we are faced with an album of a certain caliber: "Brief As a Flower", "Thy Mother", "The Lamb" are episodes of absolute value, standing out in a classically impactful tapestry, in which the violin soars without overcrowding the soundscapes with flights; Wakeford's maturation as a singer-songwriter is realized both in his not-so-clumsy vocal interpretations and in his more complex approach to composition ("The Wormwood Season").

All in all, a more than worthy album, with some truly excellent moments.