Alan Moore & Tim Perkins - Angel Passage (RE:)
Messrs Moore and Perkins follow up their evocative "Highbury Working" with a piece based on the life of William Blake. Trying to capture the essence of the so much before his time it's insane medieval genius is like trying to catch mercury and is not completely successful. While the "Highbury Working" worked by evoking the colourful history of a location by using a selection of short stories and imagination, this tries to evoke something much less definite and definitely far less comprehensible, even for one as practised at recreating the past as Mr Moore (the film "From Hell" is based on his comic book work, for those who don't know).
His soft rich voice relates a tale that seems to become lost in itself, the meaning dissolves into the words, as it becomes more musical than comprehensible. This effect is compounded by the more intrusive musical backing by Tim Perkins that builds at points until it competes with the words.
So, while "Angel Passage" is a more musical piece than its predecessor, the magic of the piece is not successful, the spell is not complete. They fail to properly recreate a person like they had a place. Still, it is beyond comparison outside their own work, Moore and Perkins are, without doubt, among the most imaginative an creative artists I have the pleasure of listening to.
Donnacha DeLong
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