Another of Durtro's limited edition goodies available at the recent Toronto shows, this is a CDEP of David Tibet singing two of his favorite tracks from Simon Finn's Pass the Distance album, with Finn himself on guitar and Joolie Wood on flute. While Tibet obviously has affection for this material, and he is careful not to trod upon its memory, he is perhaps a little too respectful with these cover versions. Rather than try to match or exceed Finn's soul-shattering vocal climax on "Jerusalem," Tibet instead covers the song in his familiar "speak-sing" style, barely cracking his voice for the penultimate chorus. Also, for some reason known only to him, Tibet has decided to cut "The Courtyard" in half, singing only the first part of the song. The pretty acoustic backing and flourishes of flute are nice enough, but I don't think they work nearly as well for this material as the kitchen-sink production of Finn's classic album. The only advantage of hearing Tibet tackle this material is the fact that it renders the lyrics much clearer and easier to decipher, as they are not covered over by layers of reverb and detuned guitar acrobatics. Still, this EP has the stink of a vanity project all over it, and while it's fun to listen to the first few times, I'm not sure it's of any particular use to Current 93 fans or Simon Finn fans.

Jonathan Dean
Sunday, 25 July 2004