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Mothlite are an avant-garde drone band consisting of Daniel O’Sullivan and Antti Uusimaki, hailing from London and Helsinki respectively. Mothlite’s uncanny ability to master sounds upon sounds blew me away with their debut album, The Flax of Reverie, to be released in stores this September. It’s made it hard for me to try to listen to conventional music since I’ve set my hands on this album, renewing my esteem for the avant-garde.

Both members provide extensive experience with music production and composition to Mothlite, so it wasn’t surprising at all that The Flax of Reverie was a fabrication of remarkable flair and splendor. Overall, the album is an ambience of dark soundscapes, with undertones of restless plight, keeping listeners on their toes constantly. This album is not to be taken lightly; it is deep, cerebral, almost beautifully tormenting.

I don’t know where to begin to explain the instrumentation on this album. The advantage of using the studio as instrument is that the music is limitless. The genius of both Sullivan and Uusimaki isn’t bound to arbitrarily placed noise. It is weaved intricately on this album to create amazing atmospheric waves of every mood you can imagine, all in one. Oh yes, it is that deadly.

I especially enjoy the vocals on this album: cascading vocals on the track, “Riverside” emphasize a restless, edgy state of mind, and harmonizing vocals on “The Untouched Dew” are reminiscent of some sort of Gregorian chant, and coupled with the backing instrumentation, are sure to leave chills down your spine.

Don’t be turned off by what appears to be descriptions of a soundtrack to a horror film, because The Flax of Reverie is really anything but that. It is a calming, intricate arrangement, tapping into the subconscious to that place we barely ever seek to go. There is definitely a combination of genres to be heard on this album, from jazz to progressive/psychedelic, but that’s not to say there’s a lack of consistency. Mothlite is definitely hard to define, as the avant-garde so achieves, so there’s not much more to be said. It’s a delectable album, so if you’re looking for something different and something with depth, Mothlite is the way to go.

MP3:
Mothlite – Riverside

I’m surprised to see that HMV (well, HMV UK, so maybe not that surprising) has Mothlite under its listings, but two of the three sites we usually have up don’t. Buy this album at CD Universe.

Tags: album