SILENCE & STRENGTH: Das Haus zur letzten Latern - A Tribute to Gustav Meyrink (HCD 10) ... just out!

The new album by Silence & Strength has been in the making for almost 5 years, as some early pieces have been written already in 2004, being composed and recorded in various locations and conditions. This monumental work realized in an album of 13 tracks and 77 minutes constitutes an impressive narrative, which opens up a door to the magical worlds of Gustav Meyrink.
 Starting with evocative pieces based on some of Meyrink's short stories the album takes us through the myriad of states and emotions - the menacing and liquid "Cardinal Napellus", the moody and unsettling "Four Moon Brothers", the decadent and poisonous "Ball Macabre", the enchanting "Opal" and so on.
One of the most expressive and dramatic tracks is "Walpurgisnacht". Combining acoustic and electronic sounds, shrieking pipes and a beat of the devilish drum, it conjures up the memories of bloody revolts and phantasmagoric affairs.
The longest composition on the album is based upon one of Meyrink's most acclaimed novels - "Der Golem". Ranging over 18 minutes it takes us on a fascinating journey through the darkened streets of Old Prague. From the bone-chilling rain and menacing ambience of the narrow, cobble-stone alleys, through the tiny rooms of misshapen houses where the early bohemians sing rowdy chansons, to the attic of Staronova Synagogue, which serves as a secret dwelling place of the mysterious Golem, and back again into a sleazy tavern with an aged hebrew harpist wheezing through a long-forgotten song, then finally to the gates of the House at the Last Light where the alchemical hermaphrodite unites the hero and his beloved in a magical union.
The journey continues, through the raucous "Green Face", the beautiful and melodic "White Dominican", to the meditative and conclusive "Angel of West Window". The album ends there, but it leaves us with a precious aftertaste and a strong desire to plunge deeper into the majestic realm of Gustav Meyrink, read his works and share his dreams.
Gustav Meyrink has long attracted readers for his masterful stories, examining the supernatural, the macabre, the spiritual, and the occult. With complex and ambitious novels, such as "The Golem", "The Green Face", "The Angel of the West Window", and "The White Dominican" Meyrink intertwines past and present, dreams and visions, myth and reality in a world of the occult, culminating in the transmutation of physical reality into a higher spiritual existence.
Silence & Strength is a project created by a talented Israeli musician Stephan Friedman. Interfusing noise, drone, glitch and experimental dark ambient he creates soundscapes in a highly structured and ritualistic way. Secret musical spaces of Silence & Strength will enchant those who feel that there is too little sound magic around them and who want to know it all. After producing two successful tribute albums to Le Comte de Cagliostro (2005) and Theophrastus Paracelsus (2006), Silence & Strength has embarked on the most ambitious project yet: Das Haus zur letzten Latern - A Tribute to Gustav Meyrink. It is the project's first official release on HORUS CyclicDaemon.
The mastering services were provided by iSoundwave, a highly professional mastering studio in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

The album was released on All Fool's Day 2009 in limited edition of 500 hand-numbered copies, on top-notch quality art-paper (green Alezan CRO 300g and recycled grey Eko 200g), A5 oversized 8-pages booklet with the tradditional A5 envelope, CD housed in a paper sleeve.
Artwork and design by John Coulthart.


Orders at:

http://www.horus.cz/www_hcd/releases.html

More info:

http://www.discogs.com/label/HORUS+CyclicDaemon
http://www.johncoulthart.com

You can learn more about Silence & Strength, previous and on-going projects by following these links:

http://silenceandstrength.webs.com
http://www.myspace.com/silenceandstrength
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Silence+&+Strength

In addition, to illustrate a growing interest in Gustav Meyrink, we should mention that from 21 November 2008 until 29 May 2009 the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in the Netherlands (Amsterdam) presents an exhibition on Gustav Meyrink (1868-1932), his life and works.

 

http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/c/p/h/bel_41.html
http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/c/p/lib/pre/pre_14.html