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Tracklist: “Deconstructing Yoko in the Snow” * “Maldoror and the Delicious Tears” * “Green and Red Shimmering Metal” * “Book of Changes II (for Ai WeiWei)” * “Morven Inuit” * “Hexennacht” * “Arkheion Tongues” * “Rock Fog Rain” * “ER Pulse”

Aos Crowley is one of the primary projects of composer and sound designer Matt Dean. His other projects are Chromasonic and Slo Virus. Aos Crowley, the sound necromancer, proposes an album laden with cultural references, and replete with a very eerie atmosphere in his “Hexennacht” (German for Witches’ Night or, Witches’ Gathering), released in early September with Mind Plug Records.

“Hexennacht” is a really intriguing album, and one that, it goes without saying, we recommend as a curio addition to your playlists. Falling really smoothly into the safety net of promoters of ‘mystical, obscure, meditative, and noisy tunes’ aka Mind Plug Records, the musical program put up by Aos Crowley enthuses and delights with its very strong intellectual coordinates, but also with its overall genuine discernment of sound.

Opened by the cleverly titled “Deconstructing Yoko in the Snow”, it ‘deconstructs’ a reference into pure display of musicality. Among the overwhelming signs of storm, the vocals, that could very well pertain to Yoko Ono, probably the most famous Yokos of them all, breathe out an indecipherable lullaby. It would not be wrong to think of Yoko Ono’s experimentalism as suggestive source of inspiration for this song, since the artistic nom de plume of Matt Dean is Aos Crowley, with a first Aos that is similar to Ono’s “Aos” song. With a Lautreamont inspired title, “Maldoror and the Delicious Tears”, Aos Crowley steps into the realm of already laid out musicality provided by Bird Paradigma. Dark and intense, and with a very special cachet, it is followed by “Green and Red Shimmering Metal”, a very eloquent track and by the Chinese philosophy inspired “Book of Changes”, this time, however, we are talking about a second volume, a lost one or one that is written before your very eyes and ears, and what is more, dedicated to artist and advocate Ai WeiWei. It sounds plausible, with a very felicitous choice of sounds and words.

Not unlike it, “Morven Inuit” and the title that inspired the album itself, “Hexennacht” follow with aplomb and with a wide array of musical theatricality. Less technically complex, but a hidden gem in itself, “Arkheion Tongues”, the second track from the compilation taken from Bird Paradigma, conveys a babeldom of sound, from which pierce, like wide open eyes in the darkness, the signs of hope, secrecy, belonging and mystical experience. With no more and no less than a witches’ cauldron incantation as start tag, “Rock Frog Rain” is the witches’ gathering at its thickest, deepening the meaning of the track and why not, the album. With “ER Pulse”, the closing track, Aos Crowley must have charmed you already. The music is rebellious, the tempo catchy and on the side, you will find a lot of things to love about the universes that Aos Crowley creates, re-creates or destroys mercilessly for the sake of new worlds, and new realities to be born. Enjoy!

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