FORMS OF THINGS UNKNOWN "Cross Purposes"
Panaxis Records | PNXS 001 | CD | 2003

A shortish (about 30 minutes) debut from up to now unknown to me windplayer Ferra Brain Pan flashed up like a falling fire-ball on starless sky. Confronting it with a quite big set of noise or atonal works I happened to have consumed recently, 'Cross Purposes', filled up with actual music strikes me with doubled strength. At the very first sight the release's attractiveness lies in its catchy name and also the act that the man behind Forms Of Things Unknown is the former collaborator of Boyd Rice, Amon Dull and Faust, a co-founder of ambient dub project 23 Degrees, and a part of dark ambient duo Darmstadt Pharmacy. So, it gets more and more likely that it's a good album. The first listen proves it, and the next ones just confirmed it - we have some excellent stuff here! 'Cross Purposes' comprises of three compositions of different kinds, but all with the same intriguing vibes. The opening, 16-minute opus 'Black Candles & Pentagrams' n Shit' smacks of a sonic ritual - subtle electro dronings and the vibraphone (at least it sounds like one.) cast a spell on the listener. Minimalist means, but what effects! Somewhere between Tuxedomoon, Ksiezyc ( Poland ) and. 23 Skidoo, or Last Few Days (but in much softer forms). As I said, Ferra Brain Pan is a windplayer, and he plays his magical music on such instruments as bass clarinet, alto & soprano sax, C flute and alto flute, Tibetan bowls & tingshas. With the 2nd composition 'Mariam Matrem', we get a chance to fall back into the middle ages - the 14th century devotional Christian song featuring a beautiful voice of Shannon Wolfe that enchants us with warm and gentle timbre. A reminiscences of Jordi Savall's come to my mind automatically. A cover of UK 's punk legend Howard Devoto, 'Stupid Blood', completes the set and differs (I guess) much from the original version - what we get here is a sort of mixture between medieval influenced Elijah's Mantle, and Tuxedomoon. Definitely a name to watch!!!

[krzysztof sadza]