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The
third Angels of Light album started innocently enough, with the intention
of collecting well-written songs performed by the musicians who played them
live for the last few years, with the addition of a few acoustic songs,
lightly colored. Instead, every available molecule of the recording tape
wound up saturated with sound; I then hacked, cut, and poured sonic fertilizer
and salt on the resultant wounds. It finally metastasized into a raging,
weeping beast that slowly bit off my head, leaving this album behind as
evidence. "Some songs might be construed as sad or poignant, and others
"rock" in a weird, skewed way, sometimes subtle, sometimes excessive.
I think I've managed to sort through the chaos, letting the songs discover
themselves. It's densely orchestrated in some places, sparse in others.
The instrumentation is all over the place, initially built up from my acoustic
guitar and voice, then incorporating everything from electronic noise, to
banjo and mandolin, bass-drums-electric guitar, (open-tuned) lap steel guitar,
vibraphones and marimbas, accordion, fiddles, flutes (yes, flutes), the
dreaded children's choir, layered vocal harmonies, drones acquired from
various organic sources, piano and Fender Rhodes, trumpet and trombone.
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It
is much, much different than the first two Angels albums. A few friends
say it's a "breakthrough" or some such thing, but believe me,
the thing controlled me, I did not control it. "Where does it fit
in the current musical environment? Nowhere, I'm sure. It's a gift for
the befuddled, the rancorous, the deluded, the chosen, the failed and
the insane, the crazed and misguided, the spiritual seekers, the hungry,
the numb, the inveterately passive, the secretly angry over-achievers,
the blandly normal, the well-primed consumers, and the mildly, distracted
curious."
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