REVIEWS

Oblivion Ensemble
Seraphim Hallucino

Malignant Records

Posted: Thursday, December 27, 2007
By: David E. Flick

Seraphim Hallucino is a recap of over a decade of sound craft spanning from New York, Indiana to Dallas, Texas and you can hear the influence as well. What the masterminds behind Oblivion Ensemble have created is truly "journey music." Brannon Hungness and John Bergstrom act as conduits for channeling creations done not only by themselves but by a cast of others such as Mark Kirschenmann (trumpet), Doug Wallace (percussion), and Rebecca Karpoff (vocals), making this truly an ensemble. Traditionally an ensemble would be a group of artists all playing together under the instruction of a conductor. However, in this post millennial world and with the use of technology, Hungness and Berstrom are able to do what Genesis P-Orridge called "playing the game of mixing." This is what they do on Seraphim Hallucino. This recording is broken down into the magickal number of 23 tracks, but it is actually meant to be heard as a single composition as all the tracks flow into one another, never making it quite clear when one piece ends and the next begins. Musically and sonically speaking, this music is so dense; there is so much going on and it is the intelligently designed moments where walls of noise will give into the smallest most beautiful little traces of melody, soon the melody will dissolve to be faded in with percussive rhythms or electronic whales, as if one's consciousness is being digitally uploaded into some computer realm. This really is a record that you have to listen to lying down with headphones on. One cannot help but feel that there is a metaphysical overtone with Seraphim Hallucino. It really seems to be a recording that takes you places and gives you the sense of movement even when you are lying perfectly still. This is music to space out to, where one moment, you are in a dimly lit room and the next moment, you are drifting out into the cosmos passing distant galaxies. It's as if the artist were trying to sell a remote viewing sessions and pass it off as music. It is obvious that Oblivion Ensemble has something to say as both primary members do vocals. These lyrical additions aren't meant to be used as a way to carry the song or make it catchy. Instead, we have sonically manipulated narratives to guide us. Oblivion Ensemble have a message they are trying to tell us; exactly what the message is we cannot be sure, but then again, that only makes you want to go back and listen to it more, hoping to pick up a new piece each time.