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Ex-Isles — Domestic Sacraments
(Bandcamp no#, 2023, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2023-12-20

Domestic Sacraments Cover art

In a world where there is so much music available that no one can ever listen to even a tiny percentage of it, one might wonder what value there is in music that takes several listens to understand. Why spend the time listening to something you may not even like multiple times when you could be listening to something new? Complicating the issue, for me at least, is the fact that there are lots of my favorite artists that I didn’t take to right off the bat. Even King Crimson and Gentle Giant took a while to sink in, and Van der Graaf Generator took even longer. I bring this up because the Ex-Isles album called Domestic Sacraments didn’t really make sense to me at first. There was obviously skill and intention behind it, but the vocals seemed to wander around and the musical backing, which is sometimes quite sparse, exposed the vocals in an arresting manner. But then a similarity with some of Scott Walker’s experimental music like Tilt struck me, and I found a way to relate to what I was hearing. Ex-Isles is a project brought into being by Pete Devlin and Jamie Thompson, who compose the music, with Devlin singing and playing synthesizers while Thompson handles a variety of keyboards. They are joined by guests Mark Prentice (bass), Darren Beckett (drums), Leroy Richardson (saxophone), and John Ayers (guitar, synth); Christoph Skirl plays additional guitar on one track, and there are some other backing vocalists as well. Devlin’s singing is not as dramatic as Scott Walker’s, but there’s a similarity in the way he delivers the lyrics and the way he moves between registers. David Sylvian is another singer who comes to mind, especially when you think of the atmospheric, jazz-tinged songs. I haven’t delved into the lyrics in detail, but there are phrases that make me think of the oblique words of Peter Blegvad. “The Gnashing Ends” has a very unusual structure that reminds me of a little of something from Kew.Rhone.  Listening to Domestic Sacraments is like getting lost in a crumbling mansion where each room has a story to tell that must be pieced together from seemingly unrelated objects scattered around. It’s a commitment, but well worth the effort for lovers of music off the beaten path.

Filed under: New releases, 2023 releases

Related artist(s): Ex-Isles

More info
http://ex-isles.bandcamp.com/album/domestic-sacraments

 

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