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AXIS AND LES JOYAUX DE LA PRINCESSE
Absinthe: La Folie Verte
2002
CD
Athanor ATNR 017
In a collaboration with the French project, Les Joyaux de la Princesse,
Michael Moynihan's Blood Axis forsakes militaristic bombast
to deliver a homage to absinthe, the notorious fin-de-siècle
tipple distilled from an infusion of wormwood. Michael reads from
contemporary texts condemning or examining the gods and demons of the
absinthe experience, against a dreamy mood-evoking ambient soundscape.
With snatches of period music weaving in and out of the cacophony, the
album successfully captures that sense of distance associated with intoxication
as it takes us on a journey into the addled brain of the absintheur.
Absinthe had such a bad reputation - at least partly due to harmful additives
- that it was widely banned for most of the twentieth century. An idea
of the taste of historical absinthe can be gained from Pernod, a modern
wormwood-free absinthe. Pastis is similar but the dominant flavour is
liquorice rather than aniseed. Michael Moynihan and Annabel Lee
of Blood Axis and ERik Konofal of Les Joyaux are all imbibers of
the liquor and have long experimented with homemade varieties. Modern,
commercially manufactured absinthe has only a tenth of the psycho-active
'thujone' present in the original, but my own experience suggests that
even this has an effect more akin to drugs than alcohol. I've been told
that a good Czech variety is available from a specialist off-license in
Soho, and look forward to listening to this album again whilst actually
drinking some.
A labour of love from enthusiasts for their subject, the attractive CD
digipak is accompanied by a sumptuous full-colour booklet with Art
Nouveau designs. Following the CD version, Athanor plans to issue
a special limited edition box-set containing a book, various printed pieces,
and two 10" picture discs with remixes from Absinthe: La Folie Verte
as well as live recordings from the debut performance of this material,
presented on stage by Blood Axis and Les Joyaux de la Princesse in Portugal
in October 2001.
Rik - 15 January 2002
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