Current 93 - I Am The Last Of All The Field That Fell (A Channel) (2014)

Back around '09, legendary post industrial/neo folk/experimental/whateverers, Current 93 released, Aleph At Hallucinatory Mountain, and I'd all but lost interest in the bands work. This was unfortunate, since I'd all but loved everything else they'd released in the past decade and more or less everything from the early 90's and 80's, too. Numerous spins revealed nothing and when I saw the band releasing a mono version (Monohallucinatory Mountain) just to milk hardcore fans I could only shake my head. I lost interest in the band, but during these past few years they'd release two more albums, as well as, their usual onslaught of live recordings and other randomness'.

I hadn't exactly planned on buying their latest, I Am The Last Of All The Field That Fell (A Channel), but I randomly came across it while perusing at the record store, and the sticker indicating a Nick Cave guest appearance kind of forced it into my hands that day.

As ever,I Am The Last Of All The Field That Fell (A Channel) features main man David Tibet alongside a cast of guest musicians, and as usual its something just a little bit different from what they've done before. The album is more piano driven, but unlike the beautiful and quite melancholy, Soft Black Stars, from '98, this one holds a more optimistic character.

The Invisible Church is a somewhat cut and dry piece with a minor experimental edge, while, Those Flowers Grew, has a building epic character to it with a strong jazzy background, courtesy of Mr. John Zorn, no less, which is easily the albums highlight, too. A song like, Kings and Things just drags onward without much happening during its course and the same is true with,With the Dromedaries, which although with something of a more haunting melody it still fails to really capture my attention. Mourned Winter Then features lead vocals from Antony Hegarty and backing vocals from Nick Cave, and although decent, the song still doesn't do much for me. I Could Not Shift the Shadow also features lead vocals by Nick Cave, and is one of the better songs on the record, whereas, Why Did the Fox Bark? and I Remember the Berlin Boys are bouncy and weird. I'm not feeling it.

The remainder of the record is largely the same. I wont lie entirely though, there are some great moments and some catchy melodies for sure throughout this record, but as a whole it just doesn't flow very well nor do the songs seem especially excellent either. The absence of Michael Cashmore and Steven Stapleton has surely left its mark on Current 93, and although this record isn't as hopeless as the one mentioned at the start of this review, its still pretty dull, nor does it give me any extra inspiration to go back to the two records I skipped entirely.

Perhaps a few months down the road this record will randomly surprise me, but I hardly anticipate following the band as passionately as I once did, and in all likelihood I'll probably buy a future recording based on chance, rather than any special interest.