Daevid Allen is one of the most prolific and unique artists from the
last few decades. Since his beginnings with the pioneer psychedelic
band Soft Machine, along with Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers, to the creation
of Gong and it�s numerous reincarnations under the names of Gongmaison,
Gas, and Gliss, Allen has always proven to be one of the most personal
artists ever. Considered as one of the most eccentric characters in
the show business, he has survived the last 4 decades of the music business
with elegance and remaining faithful to his own spirit and personality.
The North-American musician Nicoletta Stephanz, also known under the
moniker of Coven of One, is considered one of the top 3 theremin players
in the world and has toured supporting Edward Ka-Spel.
This concert is a succession of dark ambient tracks by Daevid Allen
(guitar, glissando guitar, vocals, boomerang) and Nicoletta Stephanz
(vocals, theremin, lightning, boomerang).
The performance opens with a classic glissando guitar solo (term that
Allen coined himself in the early 70�s to name electric guitar with
long feedbacks). This mysterious piece of loops of deep harmonics creates
a mantra in the purest Allen style.
Nicoletta steps in �Temple of Menstruation� with a beautiful performance
of vocal loops, also like a mantra, which produce an initiation feeling
that fits perfectly with the spiritual animistic micro-cosmos of Daevid
Allen.
” Book of Silences” is the first moment when both artists join together,
offering a beautiful oriental ambient instrumental piece where the theremin
player is focused in the sound textures instead of showing her skills
as a theremin virtuoso.
�Unriddle Me This� is one of those Allen tracks that feature his personal
modern pagan prayers over ambient backgrounds.
The mystery continues with �Defenestrating Frogs�, where the couple
create a restless atmosphere close to ambient noise with Allen playing
with different guitar effects.
The performance finishes with �Journey Into Divine Vagina�, a long and
restless ambient piece where Daevid Allen proves how, far from being
the typical lead guitarist, he is one of the most original guitar players
of his generation.
Like in the other albums from the Bananamoon Obscura series, this is
a beautiful work that all the followers of Daevid Allen and Gong will
enjoy including those who may not know his long career but ere interested
in dark ambient music. The communion between Allen and Stephanz is perfect
during the whole performance and both of them relay their interpretative
skills to the creation of deep sound ambiences: the dark side of the
bananamoon.
