Another outing for Young God Records label boss, Michael Gira, as the impressive Angels of Light. On this, his sixth album under this guise, he’s backed once again by Akron/Family who seem to be able to channel his warped and yet cultured view of Americana and folk. If anything, We Are Him is his most focused and ambitious work to date.

The album kicks off with the belting wail of Black River Song. Its pinging guitars echoing around Gira’s chanting vocals, it’s an unsettling and challenging beginning. If the album cover had lulled you into a false feeling of cosiness, then this certainly shakes those preconceptions away. Promise of Water continues this theme. Its delicate guitars act as a gentle counterpoint to the rough and edgy vocals. The tribal nature of the lyrics and the ghostly rumblings in the background make this feel like the soundtrack to a particularly gruesome horror movie set in the dark and remote depths of the Amazonian Rain Forest. It’s as if Gira has looked beyond his borders on this record and stretched his musical muscles even further. It’s not “world” music by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s something worldly about it.

The Man We Left Behind is more familiar territory. The country swagger of the guitars monotonous in their beat whilst a metallic strum pierces through before Gira’s vocals kick in with his own, peculiar, Southern-twang. Like an ode to an old western, the line “Tell him I love him, but I left him behind” sounds like something a more Metrosexual Clint Eastwood might have whispered during his many outings in the Wild West. However, as with the entire album, there’s darkness just round the corner. The songs leave you feeling paranoid and watchful. The lightness of the music just masks the brilliant darkness beneath.

The styles of the songs shift and shuffle around. It would be hard to pin point and pigeon hole this album into one specific genre. Its scope is huge. The ability of the Akron/Family to follow his vision is something that should also be celebrated and is noted on their upcoming album Love Is Simple. Whilst this constantly shifting and chameleon like musical behaviour can be exhausting, here it’s refreshing. Gira might not be bringing some completely new to the table, but his ability to meld all his disparate influences make him one of the finest acts around.
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Links
Angels of Light [official site] [buy it]