I don’t see too much between The Stone House and Lighthouse
which is released on the MoonJune label this year. I always consider them
in my opinion to be both Volume One (The Stone House) and Volume Two (Lighthouse), but that’s just me. The
album was recorded last year also in February at La Casa Murada Studios which
is the same place The Stone House was
recorded. Listening to Lighthouse, is
like a flaming fire that grows rapidly intense ready to erupt at any second.
This one is different. Bassist Yaron Stavi is not on here,
but it’s a trio. Which considers Mark Wingfield, Markus Reuter, and Asaf
Sirkis. This isn’t just a Jazz album, but more of a futuristic approach of the
Progressive Rock genre with a Post-Rock vibe of the 22nd century set
in a Blade Runner-sque dystopian
wasteland. For me, this is another fresh intensive release I’ve listened to.
The moment when I put my headphones on, I knew I was about
to embark on something quite mysterious and hypnotic right from the notes that
Wingfield and Reuter do. I got to give MoonJune Records a huge amount of credit
for making me discover these amazing musicians. Mark working with Yaron on Proof of Light, and him working with
Kevin Kastning while Markus with Stick Men and Sonar, Lighthouse is album that will make you look at a crystal ball to
see what the 22nd century will look like.
When you listen to the 14-minute epic Ghost Light, you can imagine the ambient/atmosphere approaches of a
deserted hotel that is in complete rubble. Markus’ touch guitar creates these
chilling moments of someone lurking behind the hotel that were once beautiful
turned into ashes. You can hear echoes of Klaus Schulze’s Irrlicht and King Crimson’s THRAK
coming to mind.
Wingfield creates some of the most exotic landscapes on his
guitar which have a Floydian tribe nearing the end of a shuttle ready to head
back to Rick Deckard’s apartment. Now Asaf Sirkis’ drumming like a running man
going across the landscape creating these intense grooves of a striking powder
keg waiting to explode at any second with Magnetic.
He can go through those doors one-by-one with his drum kit as
they open frantically to allow him to go in by welcoming him with open arms and
go beyond the kit. The opener, Zinc begins
by going into a travel towards the Sahara desert as the music goes into a
middle-eastern King Crimson Red-era
vibe thanks to both Wingfield and Reuter’s dooming notes and leading towards
the dangerous tombs and seeing what lies ahead.
But I love how Wingfield creates a discovery on his guitar
to letting the listener know that while all hope is lost, there is a chance of
surviving. He’s making the instrument fight back tears on A Hand in the Dark. Mark is very good at this. He creates this scenery
which is mysterious and spooky at the same time and the issue of a struggle to
be free is a challenge.
Then, there is this chaotic tension in the last 3-minutes of
the composition as he and Asaf blend in to getting out of the deep dark caves
in the river and hoping to be back on the surface and for the first time seeing
a full bright sun to come. This has been my second time listening to Lighthouse.
And I have to say I was very impressed from the pieces that
the trio did. Wingfield, Reuter, and Sirkis brought some amazing and incredible
yet haunting melodies and improvisations that is on here. It’s intense, in your
face, chilling, and a dangerous adventure that shows that this experience can
be worth exploring, but with a gigantic challenge to be prepared for. And it's not going to be easy.
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