MY CAT IS AN ALIEN
'Photoelectric Season'

This double-album is the outcome of a six-month period of "physical and psychic isolation" out in the Western Alps, during which time the Opalio Brothers immersed themselves in the music of Scelsi, Satie and Asakawa and the writings of Strindberg and Lautremont. The resultant deluge of music finds the Italian duo utilising a host of electronic devices, electric and acoustic guitars plus an "ancient zither", pouring out an exhaustive five-part session that captures My Cat Is An Alien in more sedate and considered form. The first piece might rank among this duo's most uncluttered and most beautiful work to date, spinning distinct strands of hovering guitars and electrified drone harmonies, swathed in crackle. The tendencies towards dissonance and disorganisation are abandoned for this piece, and the duo seem keen to persevere on such strong form for the twenty-five minute follow-up. 'Photoelectric Season 2' is split into different passages, starting out with arpeggiating string plucks and ring-modulated synth sustains only to later encompass a chorused vocal drone and thinned-out organ chords. A flicker of tremolo electronics, 'Photoelectric Season 4' represents the shortest and most focused piece here, nicely cueing the fifth and final part of the album, whose guitar and zither improvisations thread together in the most melodic and mutually complimentary fashion. Recommended.

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN
'Black Shadows from Jupiter, I & II'

Originally issued in 2005 on My Cat Is An Alien's own Opax Records, the first volume of the Black Shadows From Jupiter project had been presented in mono, but this edition reissues that album's two long-form pieces in a stereo mix. Additionally, this new release sees the inclusion of the more recent Volume II, recorded towards the end of 2009. Despite there being a gap of nearly half a decade between recording sessions there's a great deal of continuity and even symmetry between the two volumes. Aside from the twenty-minute-plus durations for each piece, the music recorded for both sessions draws on an improv drone agenda, with experiments in wordless vocals being a central feature. This is especially prominent on the newer material, and the first half of Vol. II nicely entwines sustained falsetto intonations with flickering guitar string loops and coarse electronic static.