The Cube of Unknowing : Bog Summoner

If ever there was an album that sounded exactly as the name of the record implies, then The Cube of Unknowing’s Bog Summoner is it. Other names that would have been equally as descriptive would have been Cosmic Travels Into The Subconscious, A Black Hole Journey, Losing Your Mind In The Slipstream, or Dreams Drowning In Chaos Theory.

The Cube of Unknowing is the musical project of Francis Heery, a composer and sound artist from Co. Galway. He holds a Ph.D in Composition, as well as an M.Phil. in Music and Media Technologies. So besides having an interest in science fiction and the occult, with a heavy dose of philosophy sprinkled about, Heery has the academic chops backing his heady sound experiments up.

With Bog Summoner Heery as The Cube of Unknowing unlocks his imagination into an album that comes across as some heady journey into the cosmos; Krautrock, Komische, and Berlin School sounds take precedence here in these six all-encompassing tracks. Bold, chaotic, and mysterious, this is the kind of album you succumb to and let it take you on its hazy sonic journey.

The one-two punch of album openers “Hag of the Hazel Wand” and “Horned Beasts of Ui Maine” are the perfect introduction to Heery’s heady sound world. Drones and electronic wanes and whines sound like they could be recordings of the deep sea, cosmic distortions, or one’s own subconscious enveloping our exterior existence. A robotic heartbeat appears bringing to mind the great 70s German electronic pioneers. Sort of a cross between Tangerine Dream’s Phaedra and Suicide’s debut album. “Horned Beasts of Ui Maine” opens like a slow fog over some abandoned midnight prairie. Cryptic, eerie, and amorphous at first, a kinetic rhythm makes its presence known and drives us to the edges of space and time.

Elsewhere “Bog Magus” pulsates in analog lust; driven by a robotic rhythm and hazy synthesis, it begs for headphones and deep contemplation. Low, thunderous bass rises from the depths on “Tumulus” as the song’s beating heart take us into the belly of beast, while “Breeder of Enchantments” escalates with a kind of metallic, primal hope. There’s elements of almost sonic optimism as the song moves along in hues of pink and purple haze. “A Sighting” ends things with bubbling synths and click-clack percussion. Touches of Cluster are peppered throughout the wavering track.

Bog Summoner is an enchanting and fully engaged listening experience. A phantasmagoric display of sonic wizardry and out-of-body composition. Space travelers and cosmic philistines take note.