- Although the duo of Ricardo Donoso and Luke Moldof have performed together as Perispirit for several years, Spiritual Church Movement is the project's proper debut. Their moniker refers to a mystical practice of bridging spirit and mind, and it's not difficult to see the parallel with their music, which builds from chaos to clarity and back again. It's largely unclear who's doing what across these two compositions, but Perispirit reportedly work with combinations of digital and analogue mediums, with Donoso on the former and Moldof on the latter.
"14th Annual Séance" opens in seeming disarray, scattering stray beats, vocal mumbles, machine squeaks and bursts of static across the stereo field in a manner that's both disorienting and entrancing. It's also the sort of thing that might deter repeat listens—it contains no clear progression or structure, nor is it particularly soothing, and at some point you might start wondering why you're even listening to it. But those with some patience will be richly rewarded, as the eventual entrance of a melody—a crazed, majestic, droning fanfare—ties it all together, and at once it feels like you've made it somewhere, those tiny bits of audio detritus adding up to a breathtaking whole.
After "14th Annual Séance," there's some expectation for "Attn: Deficit Order" to follow a similar path. And it does, though its initial approach is more hushed, with delicate arpeggios darting between restrained, elongated drones and sporadic beat-like rumbles. Around midway through it undergoes a severe moodswing, quickly decaying into a maelstrom of searing, caustic noise, until another dramatic and serenely evolving finale is forged, ending the piece in a pulsing, bleary trance.
Spiritual Church Movement is both bewildering and accessible, merging noise and musique concrète with a naturalistic and highly moving melodic sense. Perispirit shift between the two with such thrilling, masterful ease that it's astonishing to remember this, again, is only their debut.
Tracklist 01. 14th Annual Seance (Part 1)
02. 14th Annual Seance (Part 2)
03. 14th Annual Seance (Part 3)
04. Attn: Deficit Order (Part 1)
05. Attn: Deficit Order (Part 2)
06. Attn: Deficit Order (Part 3)