Search - Coil :: Musick to Play in the Dark V.2 (Limited Edition)

Amazingly good

W. G. Hardy | 06/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been listening to Coil since about 1985, and can happily claim to have a more-or-less complete collection of all their stuff now.
What can I say about this album though. It is astonishingly good, and I'm wondering what's stopping me from saying that it's their best of all, because it pretty much is.I read somewhere that this album was also an experiment by Messers Balance and Christopherson in sleep-deprivation. After several days of not sleeping, they piled into the studio and began the process of recording this. Perhaps that's what shines through and makes this memorable. Perhaps it's their change from sun-music to moon-music.I'm not a huge fan of anything with vocals/lyrics, but I'm more than happy to make an exception for this and even sometimes find myself wailing along in my own off-key way.Deep, dark, haunting, melodic, hypnotic. Throw as many euphamisms and adjectives at it as you want, the proof is in the listening."

In the light of the moon

The Pitiful Anonymous | the Acres of Skin | 12/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first MtPitD was an audio hallucinogen, relying more on spacial effects and careful panning to create an environment inside your headphones. The place it took you to was reminiscient of the moonlit forest on the cover. The sequel revisits this place briefly, but is much more focused on a depressive, melodic, song-based approach, still intensely colorful and visual but not really an 'environment', per se. The only truly three-dimensional, ambient track on it is the instrumental "Tiny Golden Books", which is remiscient of "Red Birds Will Fly Out of the East" with its arpeggiated synth tones and build of energy, but in my opinion even more effective. It's one of the best tracks Coil has ever produced.



The instrumentation is generally the same as the first time around. Nocturnal and watery washes of sound, clicking and popping arranged into subtle rhythms. Square waves are generally avoided.



Unlike the first volume, Volume 2 can be enjoyed at any time of day and doesn't need to be played in absolute silence to work. Lyrics and spoken poetry are less of a focus. The piano ballad "Ether" is beautiful, structured more traditionally but still maintaining that loose, improvisational nature that permeates much of Coil's work through the use of spontaneous, unstructured soloing. Several tracks (as opposed to only one on Volume 1) feature the melodic vocals of John Balance as well as occasionally Rose McDowall (not present on Volume 1) such as the sparse, beat-driven "Paranoid Inlay" and "Batwings". "Batwings" uses a lot of pleasant, muffled synth tones. The minute long, dream-like "In Emergency" manages to be a highlight. Rose's voice is really gorgeous.



The differences between Volume 1 and Volume 2 are in the end a good thing, as each is of equal quality. Both are highly recommended and worth hunting down, and I believe them to be among the best ambient musick ever made. Threshold House has recently started repressing them. Get them before they're gone!"