Always very prolific collaborator Stefano Musso/Alio Die this time travels to the Nordic territories to complete his premiere joint effort album with Finnish sound sculptor Jaakko Padatsu of Lingua Fungi project. "Otter Songs" album, released in February 2012 on Hic Sunt Leones, immediately strikes with its eye-catching black & gold artwork on 6-panel digipak. Really gorgeous!!! The opening tones of "Angler's Lantern" precisely display the images and show the direction the duo is heading, where deeper, cavernous drones are hauntingly accompanied by various stringed instruments like zither, psaltery or sitar as well as by other, self-made instruments and found objects. Yes, this introduction is deeply evocative and immersing and masterfully fuses electronic enhancements with fragile and filigree acoustics. I am hooked immediately!!! "Otter's Song" is more expressive and organic, less droning, but as much imaginative as the first composition. Field recordings pleasingly color the overall feel of this stunningly mysterious composition, this can be an anthem for your nocturnal musings!!! "Weeping Spruce" moves to slightly more minimal, oddly eclectic, cacophonic and meditative realms, painting truly unique, otherworldly images, which evoke a walk through sombre mist-filled forest. "Down The Sun Trail", as its name suggests, is another breathtaking exploration showcasing polished synergy of abyssal drones, scary phonographic sounds, acoustic wizardry and eerie overtone singing and chants. A truly virtuoso performance guaranteeing a deeper, shamanistic journey into the cave of the listener's mind!!! But richly picturesque and powerfully expansive soundworlds keep on invading, "Birds And Currants" follow the footsteps of its predecessor, while naturally sounding at the beginning, but in the second third entering into more dramatic terrains with culminating intensity. Psychoactive sonic substance at its best!!! Slightly more relieving outro "Fount Of Flowing Water" attracts with another batch of unsettling drifts, exotic strings, environmental sounds and voice magics. When I have heard for the first time about this upcoming album, I didn't know what to expect as I was not familiar with previous Lingua Fungi works (two solo CDs and one split CD released before), but the final result is beautifully primordial and mysteriously magnificent!!! "Otter Songs" move me into transcendental realms of pure sonic bliss!!! Not far behind the phenomenal "Fissures"... -Richard Gürtler