With these two releases (one of which is subscribers only and is still available as part of a full package), David Jackman concludes this monumental eight-part collection of what he deems as a single, unified work. Unsurprisingly, the sound of these two albums is drawn from elements and themes of the volumes that preceded, first in a dramatic culmination, then in a more restrained and mediative, befitting the concluding segments of such an expansive endeavor.
Steadfast, credited to D. Jackman (even with the series completed, I still am no closer to understanding the choice of artist name used for each of these discs), is two discs, while Scilence (as just Jackman) is the subscriber only final volume. Disc one of Steadfast still features this work in its most intensive form. Immediately an organ-like roar and what sounds like layered, digital delay feedback is an immediate hit to the senses. A down-tuned gong or bell appears early on, and the result resembles all of the elements he has been working with in the series tightly compacted into a single piece. Prominent low frequency tones and shifting delays added to the piece alternatingly resemble a swirling vortex of noise and the roar of a jet engine.
At around two thirds of the piece Jackman turns everything up. The mix doesn’t change substantially, but everything becomes notably more intense in frequency and volume. He pulls things back but then amps it up even more, and with more feedback added, it does not sound that far removed from the Incapacitants’ best work before abruptly dropping to silence punctuated with a single bell toll.
The second disc picks up where the first left off, and the bells that have been a prominent feature of this series are up front and spread out, with what sounds like a sheen of digital processing giving them a unique feel when compared to their previous appearances. The movement in layers is more subtle, and it seems like he might have boosted the lower frequencies a bit more here. As a whole the mix seems more digital, and he plays with the dynamics throughout, stripping back the mix and then turning everything up once again. At times the midrange of the spectrum is emphasized, at others the low end. Like the first disc, he brings everything to an abrupt conclusion and follows it up once again with the sound of a single bell.
While Steadfast may have been the dramatic climax, Scilence is the meditative coda to the series. The harmonium like buzzing that factored into the previous discs more apparently and acted as one of the multiple noisy layers on Steadfast is back, but more of the centerpiece. The ravens also make their return, along with some other, more songbird-like creatures. In total, the feeling is more relaxed, with a less dense mix. The gongs appear, but the sense is more atmospheric overall, fortified with a low frequency tone. The dynamic is more stable than many of the volumes in this series, and the piece closes with the chirping of songbirds, a ray of light to end a sequence of albums that were at times oppressive and unrelenting.
As a sequence of albums, there is a clear consistency in the components David Jackman employs throughout, and the description of this as a singular work that has been in progress since his 2018 return makes sense. It comprises everything fans of Organum/Jackman have appreciated: purity of sound, repetition of certain elements, but always coming together as greater than the sum of its parts. With the sequence complete, I am curious to try the major endeavor of loading all eight albums/10 CDs into my CD changer and running through all six and a half-ish hours of them in a single marathon session, but I’ll have to see how that works scheduling wise for me. With Die Stadt indicating there remains two 7”s that are not part of the series on the horizon, I hope that this is not his final magnum opus.
