Country : United Kingdom Label : House of Mythology Genres and styles : Ambient / Drone / Experimental / Contemporary Year : 2020

To Kiss Earth Goodbye

· by Geneviève Gendreau

The duo, active since 2015, offer their second album, matured over four years. Both members have long and impressive track records – Pilkington has a long history of releasing “unpopular culture,” according to the Strange Attractor Press website. York, a multi-instrumentalist with numerous projects, has collaborated with bands as mythical as Coil and Cyclobe.

Together, they create music in the kosmische tradition, which is the ethereal strain of krautrock, stripped of its rock influences but marked by its exploratory impulses. This mix of vibrant textures, synthetic and organic, is skillfully unified. York’s wind instruments, which include bagpipes and flutes, are combined with a strong command of analog and digital devices. The result, according to the duo’s artistic mantra, is an exhilarating “exploration of nature and electricity”.

The album opens with a deafening wave of bells. The spatial melodies in the background take over. “Come! Vehicles of Light” provide a weightless introductory ascent. “An Unexpected Visit” features an unreleased incantation from the 1980s by occultist Alex Sanders. His voice, whispering, sighing, is swathed in celestial soaring, accompanied by a basso ostinato. The lament fades with the sound of the waves. The ten-minute title piece, serious and grandiose, is a veritable cosmic storm. The periodic soundings of a deep bass sustain a transcendental cacophony where the rumblings of the distorted guitar rival the bagpipes. As on many pieces, one has the final impression of a blueprint, with everything where it should be.

Each piece, beautifully crafted, is made of dissonances resolving into fine melodies, against a background of peaceful repetition.

Latest 360 Content

FIJM | Sun Ra Arkestra Still in the Physical World But…

FIJM | Sun Ra Arkestra Still in the Physical World But…

FIJM | Saxophonist and vocalist Camille Thurman, New Montreal Hidden Treasure

FIJM | Saxophonist and vocalist Camille Thurman, New Montreal Hidden Treasure

Festival de Lanaudière | Bruckner and Payare: cathedral builders

Festival de Lanaudière | Bruckner and Payare: cathedral builders

FIJM | Marcus Strickland and The Black Fusion Following

FIJM | Marcus Strickland and The Black Fusion Following

FIJM | Jean Michel Blais & Lara Somogyi: Fruits of The Desert

FIJM | Jean Michel Blais & Lara Somogyi: Fruits of The Desert

FIJM | Fievel is Glauque For Dessert… Dessert loaded!

FIJM | Fievel is Glauque For Dessert… Dessert loaded!

FIJM | Thursday Ends With Suuns

FIJM | Thursday Ends With Suuns

FIJM | Misc: Beat Bouquet Well Garnished!

FIJM | Misc: Beat Bouquet Well Garnished!

FIJM | Alexis Lombre and the Holy Spirit in the South Side of Chicago

FIJM | Alexis Lombre and the Holy Spirit in the South Side of Chicago

FIJM | Allison Russel’s Apotheosis Concert in Her Hometown

FIJM | Allison Russel’s Apotheosis Concert in Her Hometown

FIJM I Best Dressed, Most Possessed: Fantastic Negrito Stupefies Rogers Stage

FIJM I Best Dressed, Most Possessed: Fantastic Negrito Stupefies Rogers Stage

FIJM 2025 | Beth McKenna : raising her Momentum

FIJM 2025 | Beth McKenna : raising her Momentum

Nuits d’Afrique | Immersion In The World of Stogie T

Nuits d’Afrique | Immersion In The World of Stogie T

FIJM | Julius Rodriguez, Jazz Groove Ace

FIJM | Julius Rodriguez, Jazz Groove Ace

FIJM | Men I Trust Shines Brightly on The Place des Festivals

FIJM | Men I Trust Shines Brightly on The Place des Festivals

FIJM | Anomalie and Lettieri: A New Musical Friendship, Developing in Real Time

FIJM | Anomalie and Lettieri: A New Musical Friendship, Developing in Real Time

FIJM | Linda May Han Oh, A Role Model for Female Double-Bass Players

FIJM | Linda May Han Oh, A Role Model for Female Double-Bass Players

Nuits d’Afrique | La Chiva Gantiva As Seen by Rafael Espinel

Nuits d’Afrique | La Chiva Gantiva As Seen by Rafael Espinel

Suoni | The Spiritual Quest, The End in Transcendence

Suoni | The Spiritual Quest, The End in Transcendence

FIJM | Thundercat, A Feline on The Loose

FIJM | Thundercat, A Feline on The Loose

FIJM | Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston Exposed

FIJM | Bill Frisell, Thomas Morgan and Rudy Royston Exposed

FIJM | Branford Marsalis Among Four MF’s Playin’ Tunes… Live!

FIJM | Branford Marsalis Among Four MF’s Playin’ Tunes… Live!

FIJM | About Derrick Hodge’s Idea of the Color of Noize

FIJM | About Derrick Hodge’s Idea of the Color of Noize

FIJM | Queen of Afrobeats, Ayra confirms her status as a Global… Starr

FIJM | Queen of Afrobeats, Ayra confirms her status as a Global… Starr

Subscribe to our newsletter