Some of us came to Cindytalk due to collaborations such as tracks on the first This Mortal Coil album. The music of Cindytalk, however, was never something exactly similar. Even in the year 2026, the tunes of Cindytalk maintain a timelessness and stark power which is more than impressive. The new record, That We Must Pass Through This Life, is one of this month's most significant offerings, and one which deserves attention from discerning listeners.
Opener "I go out of the darkness" unfurls with glacial precision. It's the sound of a stone being rolled away from a tomb, and only darkness answering back. The slightly more direct "onto a path of darkness" mixes piano tones, samples which suggest vast spaces, and ambient sounds. The effect is one that stuns with its quiet genius. The epic "lit only by a far off moon" conjures up dream-realms, the sounds like something from a nightmare-inducing mid-Seventies horror film, only slowed down to a crawl with only faint scratches punctuating the despair. Closer "on the edge of the mountains" fines a kind of momentum to ride.
In this interview, the term ambi-dustrial was used. The tag, devised by Cinder (FKA Gordon Sharp) to presumably decribe the music made by Cindytalk, fits. This material is as darkly spacious as recordings by NON and Chris and Cosey. Still, Cindytalk could hardly get lumped in with those acts so easily. That We Must Pass Through This Life is so starkly realized, so precise and austere, that the record sort of stuns. It's anti-music in a way, and yet, too nuanced to be ambient. The sounds here serve a purpose, and it's no accident that the song titles link up to quote a poem from Izumi Shikibu. The selections are a path when taken together, and the whole album stands as an immersive experience, and one which invites us onto a journey with Cindytalk.
That We Must Pass Through This Life by Cindytalk is out on January 16 via LINE. Details below as well.
Official Cindytalk site is here.
[Photo: LINE]