Athlantis

This is a strange, intermittently fascinating, slightly disturbing, and ultimately simply rather puzzling album. Based on a text taken from the Cantus Circaeus (Incantation of Circe) of Renaissance cosmologist Giordano Bruno, Athlantis is something like an oratorio — though its musical influences are all over the place and draw as much on medieval as Renaissance influences. Melodically, it evokes everything from Gregorian chant ("Inquisito") to Islamo-Iberian melisma ("Ros Vespertinus"). There are dissonant tone clusters ("Vespertiliones"), a monodic and really quite lovely trumpet fanfare ("Conciliator"), some harmonically advanced and rhythmically minimal passages ("Iupiter"), a little dab of sprechgesang ("Athlantis"), and something that sounds an awful lot like the Swans would if Michael Gira were a 16th century Italian troubadour and played the sitar. Intrigued? Well, that's one possible response. Confused slumber is another. But who's to say which would be the more correct?