The demise of dark music distributor World Serpent has created acrippling ripple effect for all dependent parties involved. The vitalpayments that once supported their thought-provoking and ear-astoundingindependent artists such as Coil and Nurse With Wound have now driedup, leaving the majority of the company's active acts scrambling fornew distribution deals and taking on the burden of significantfinancial losses in the process. Current 93's own David Tibet hasregretably announced that he will need to sell his house, being unableto afford living there any longer. Sad to say, industrial music pioneerCosey Fanni Tutti, along with her husband and frequent co-conspiratorChris Carter, have perhaps suffered some of the greatest harm, at leastartistically, with two completed releases that were due out around thetime of World Serpent's collapse. EAR 4: Selflessness,one of these final releases along with the woefully hard-to-findCarter-Tutti album. Presumably constructed from recordings taken from alive art action undertaken by Cosey in May 2002 at, of all places,Californian tourist mecca Disneyland, the music here unintentionally,unless through will of unconscious foreshadowing, evokes thedesperation that she must now feel. Broken down into a series of fouricy excursions into dark ambient realms, each roughly 20 minute segmentretains its own particular subtle and not-so-subtle charms while stillflowing smoothly and uninterrupted between one another. "Part One"bristles with cold winds and the peculiar sounds of distant mirth andmerriment, contributing to an overall dissonance of train whistles andother delay-saturated noises. An enchanting synth pad surges and thensubsides throughout "Part Two," surging with a sonic emotiveness thatmany fans of the current pop ambient darlings of the Kompakt labelswould delight in. "Part Three" indulges in more minimal atmospheresthan the preceding tracks with soft buried dubby rhythms and incoherantsamples of a whining child. The closing track continues to play withthe elemental building blocks from the previous sections whileintroducing more lush melodic tones, ending with the rise and descentof one particularly gorgeous drone. Though marred by the unfortunatecircumstances leading to its delayed availability, ambient musicafficionados and inquistors will find much to explore and examine byseeking out this recent work from an amazing and inspiring musicalluminary. Read More
