Bleep

It is clear from the opening title-number of World Serpent, Misha Hering’s latest LP as Memnon Sa, that you are about to embark on a great sonic adventure. The flurry of chirping modulars which usher in ‘World Serpent’ have one thinking of the cinematic synthscapes of golden-age Vangelis - or, for more contemporary-minded listeners, Daniel Lopatin’s music for Uncut Gems. The piece eventually builds to a melange of rhythm and sound reminiscent of Goat, but not before it dissolves into a psychedelic hinterland, a space of woozy incantations and hissing drones. It's a bold, vivid and modern iteration of kosmische music, and a work which sets the scene perfectly for the rest of this hugely atmospheric record.

Aided at points by members of Virginia Wing, Ghold and Wren, Hering manages to fashion a set of movements - given the interconnectedness of World Serpent’s parts it feels wrong to call them tracks - which combine the spiritual expansiveness of Sun Ra and Popol Vuh with an earthy, elemental potency. There has always been a somewhat occult quality to Memnon Sa’s music, and this feeling lurks at the corners of World Serpent once more. It becomes particularly strong on the more drone-centred takes - ‘Reptilian Energy Drain’, for instance, is a foggy brew of darkside spiritualism - but rhythmic entries like ‘Golden Ram Of The Sun’ also have a Wiccan draw to them akin to Forest Swords.

Released via his new Holy Mountain imprint, Misha Hering’s new Memnon Sa album World Serpent journeys to the very edge of contemporary Krautrock.