Six Organs of Admittance is back after 3
years with a new record, new techniques
in sound generation, and a new attitude.
Companion Rises has a driving force only
hinted at with previous releases. Manipulating the rhythmic DNA from songs such
as the bass-dominated "Taken by Ascent"
(on his last record, Burning the Threshold), Ben Chasny has grown a new sound
creature in his lab that is as welcoming as
it is terrifying and as fun to listen to as it
provocative and intriguing.
Methodologically, Companion Rises sometimes recalls the early-mid low-fi work of
Six Organs, with modern techniques
swapping digital processes in for the analog ways of the early days, and algorithmic
programs creating the rhythms rather than
Ben's overdubbed hand percussion. Also
like those early records, Companion Rises
has Ben creating all the sounds, doing all
the recording and mixing the entire record
himself. But do not mistake this as some
sort of return to an older sound. One listen and it is obvious that this Six Organs of Admittance release
is all in the present. One thinks of Octavio Paz's oft-used metaphor of the concentric circle, as Companion
Rises returns to a similar place but is much farther out from the center
