François J. Bonnet & Stephen O’Malley: Cylene II

Following their 2019 debut LP, Cylene, composer and electroacoustic musician, François J. Bonnet, and experimental guitarist, Stephen O’Malley, resume their collaboration with the next instalment: Cylene II.

Through the portal of his Ideologic Organ label, O’Malley has forever dabbled in the world of experimentation: most recently alongside American organist, Kali Malone. For the most part, these creative outlets have been far removed from his endeavours with amplifier worshipers Sunn O))), however Cylene possessed the remnants of the band’s latest psychedelic escapades, which formed an album that was one of the most underrated of 2019.

Khanate: To Be Cruel

The pair return with Cylene II, and through the mire of lockdown and the world seemingly turned upside down, an upside-down world is what this release is inspired by.

Born from various artist residencies in Switzerland and Italy, as well as several live performance excerpts, Bonnet and O’Malley thrashed out the final cut of Cylene II at Paris’ INA-GRM Studios. The result is both a departure and a progression from its predecessor, as the pair create a new eerie, pulsating world of harsh textures and dusk-like imagery.

Starting with Four Days (Anti Divide) – a journey through the moon-lit marshlands as a crescendo of drones and strings ooze from the speakers. And while Rainbows and Vulcani Di Fango possess that same atmosphere, with warm distortion and humid drones, Bonnet and O’Malley extend the notion of deep listening by addition of charred textures and hellish noisescapes.

It continues with Ghosts of Precognition. Like the sound of a live powerline being severed, Ghosts of Precognition possesses the sort of metallic jolt and rolling mist of ambience that inspired much of Fennesz’s works.

Jayve Montgomery: Breathing With Each Ear (Hour 3)

The tempo drops on Troisieme noire – wisps of static that that are like a transmission from another world, which leads into the flourishing cascade of sound of La Ronde. Here, Bonnet and O’Malley guide us back through the same marshlands where we began.

In some ways, Cylene II could be considered a soundtrack to the kind of black acid nightmare that currently engulfs the world as we know it. However, by intersecting the core ideas of psychedelia with the world of deep listening, somehow Bonnet and O’Malley absorb the darkness. It’s escapism, but along the darkest frontiers imaginable.

Cylene II is out via Drag City. Purchase from Bandcamp.