The California-based music project Spirits Burning has long been a fascinating outlier orbiting the Hawkwind mothership. Overseen by American composer and producer Don Falcone, the project has, since 1998, released more than 20 albums and drawn on a remarkable pool of nearly 300 collaborators. Among them are members of Blue Öyster Cult, Clearlight, Gong, Hawkwind and Van der Graaf Generator, alongside Steven Wilson and British fantasy writer Michael Moorcock. This ever-shifting collective has cultivated a reputation for expansive, exploratory music that embraces both space rock tradition and experimental independence. For this latest release, Falcone turns again to former Hawkwind vocalist Bridget Wishart. Their fourth full collaboration comprises a collection of musical and poetic fragments shaped around Wishart's own fantastical narratives from her "Caoimhe Tales." Rather than presenting a linear set of songs, the album instead offers interconnected moods and textures, blurring the lines between spoken word, song, and sonic collage. The record comfortably inhabits the shared territory of Hawkwind and Gong, balancing driving, rhythmic workouts with drifting, ethereal soundscapes. Pulsing grooves and synthesised currents such as those on The Door give way to more abstract passages where words and music intermingle, creating an atmosphere that is both immersive and elusive. It is a space that Falcone knows well, and he guides the project with a light but assured touch, allowing each fragment to breathe while maintaining an overarching cohesion. Central to the album's success is Wishart herself. A vocal chameleon, she shifts effortlessly between incantatory spoken word, melodic phrasing, and more experimental textures. At times she is storyteller, at others an instrument within the mix, her voice woven into the fabric of Falcone's arrangements. Her fantastical themes lend the album a dreamlike, otherworldly quality, reinforcing the sense that this is less a conventional record than an imaginative journey. Elsewhere, the fragments include the delicate, poignant two part instrumental Piper and sombre, jarring Dark Eyes, Wishart's voice overlapping with both sung and spoken lyrics. The title track provides the most haunting moments, Wishart duetting with guitarist Jerry Jeter in an ethereal mist of loveliness encompassing delicate guitar, resonant cello effects and fragile piano lines. Together, Falcone and Wishart have crafted a work that captures the spirit of collaborative experimentation, while continuing to push their idiosyncratic boundaries. **** Alison Reijman Where to buy? |
