Any semblance of profound metaphor must wait until track 7 (“Doors of Perception”) and later track 10 (“Ecstasy Dance”). But even before we get that far into the album, there are intimations of the visionary. Raoul Björkenheim has almost always suggested, through his voice on the guitar, that he is nothing if not a fearless musician – both as an instrumentalist as well as – and more importantly perhaps – a composing musician. As a guitarist, he is someone who thinks nothing of the deep dive into the instrument’s depths rummaging noisily through its armoury to find ways of depicting its sound of music; always defying the limits of what it can and ought to be. On this album, Doors of Perception he addresses this in the music right out of the gates on track 1 itself.
Throughout, we get a sense of the creation of a monumental, pulseless music made up of massive blocks of seemingly static, but subtly changing, textures whose component parts flow seamlessly in and out of one another. It begins with a great crashing chord covering several octaves played by guitar and picked up by saxophone, contrabass and drums to kick “Ides of March” to life heralding a spectacular event almost as enormous as that proverbially fateful day in Roman history alluded to by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar. Not all allusions are literary, however, not – at least until the fateful track 7. But the impact of that explosive beginning carries on through “Answer It!”, “Buzz”, the demented outpourings, instrumental interventions in the wheezing harmonics of each.
“Jitterfug” and “Sunflower” – while not seeming out character with the rest of the songs (unless you go by title alone) – are, nevertheless, lighter in spirit. But the orchestral growl of the winds and the incessant drone of the guitar over everything including the rumbling contrabass and thrashing drums makes for a constant sense of development from darkness to light and back again as voices overlap one another each one more clamourous than the other until the coming of “Ecstasy Dance” with its enormous crescendos. This time the clusters of closely adjacent notes are built up to gradually overlapping layers.
At the end of the music one gets a sense of sculpted sound, but the combination of instrumental timbres is often radiantly beautiful, suggesting something bejewelled and glowing; ultimately totally and completely in keeping with the ‘purely aesthetic’ and ‘sacramental vision’ of Aldous Huxley and William Blake.
Track list – 1: Ides of March; 2: Answer It! 3: Buzz; 4: Surf Bird; 5: Elemental; 6: Talkin’ to Me?; 7: Doors of Perception; 8: Jitterfug; 9: Sunflower; 10: Ecstasy Dance
Personnel – Raoul Björkenheim /eCsTaSy is: Raoul Björkenheim: electric 6- and 12-string guitars; Pauli Lyytinen: bass, tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, wood flute; Jori Huhtala: contrabass; Markku Ounaskari: drums and percussion
Released – 2017
Label – Cuneiform Records
Runtime – 44:30