The mysterious Italian duo Diĝir Gidim made their recording debut five years ago, bursting out of nowhere via the ATMF label with an album named I Thought There Was the Sun Awaiting My Awakening. Lacking any precedent for it, I was taken by surprise. As I wrote at the time when we premiered it, what I heard left me gasping and unnerved, emotionally stretched taut, and wide-eyed in wonder at what these two had achieved. I felt myself enthralled by the unsettling sorcery of masters practicing a very dark but transportive art.

Thinking back on that album now, I’m not shocked that it took five years for Diĝir Gidim to return. That previous record was astonishing in its complexity, in the care and ingenuity of its conception and execution, and in the deep and unpredictable emotional effects it produced. As I again wrote then, it resembled a musical odyssey, or the unfolding of an arcane pageant, or the sound of a labyrinthine ritual within a cosmic ziggurat — not an easy trip, not an experience that was intended to comfort listeners but one designed to up-end their view of reality.

And so, that it would take them this long to create a follow-up is unsurprising. I’m just very glad that they did it. Continue reading »