Ginnungagap, "Crashed Like Wretched Moth"

Another Stephen O'Malley musical project is released on yet another limited edition: this time a one-sided and etched LP. Although Crashed Like Wretched Moth does not grab me like the previous Ginnungagap releases, it does not have the same immediate power. It seems to be slowly growing on me but I doubt I will be able to embrace it as heartily as his other side project releases.

 

Conspiracy Records
 
After such a nice sleeve (very much indebted to many releases on Touch) I was expecting more from the etching, a crude demon type creature and a lot of bat-like beings in silver ink. The piece takes up a full side, so it is around 20 minutes long. Unlike most O'Malley work, there are absolutely no guitars nor any instruments remotely related to the guitar. Instead, Crashed Like Wretched Moth is O’Malley in front of a piano and clattering out a constant din.

Like other Ginnungagap releases, the sound of the music is atypical of what would normally be expected from a man who is renowned for massive stacks of amps and bending reality itself with volume. Here the bulk of the music is a thunderous piano motif, constantly vibrating for the length of the piece. For a while, this is all there is to Crashed Like Wretched Moth and I was starting to think I had wasted my money but soon new sounds and notes appeared. Plucked piano strings and pounded keys stab out of the recording like a blind knife fighter. Sometimes O'Malley hits home sharply, sometimes the effect is dulled.

Crashed Like Wretched Moth is a bit of a disappointment after the frankly perfect Remeindre. However, it is obvious that Ginnungagap is a way for O’Malley to explore new musical vistas and to simply rehash what he has done before would be futile. Also, it would be unfair to dismiss this as a failed experiment, the piece is in no way awful but it does not sit right with me at this point in time. With each spin of the record I enjoy it a little more but I don't know if in the long run I will come back to Crashed Like Wretched Moth as often as other works in O’Malley’s cannon.

This is only available on LP so no mp3 samples, apologies!