Senyawa & Lawrence English / Aviva Endean / Peter Knight / Helen Svoboda / Joe Talia - The Prey And The Ruler [Room40 Promo]

Put out via the Australian imprint Room40 on October 28th, 2k22 is "The Prey And The Ruler", a new multi-artist album effort brought to life by the labels head honcho Lawrence English, the Indonesian duo Senyawa and others over a long distance collaboration bridging the gap between countries and continents over the course of the pandemic. The result, a four track longplay piece rolled out over the course of 39 minutes, is nothing short of a tectonic force conceived with the help of newly forged and thought up instruments, a solemn, yet somewhat unsettling take on misty, spiritual Ambient for high altitudes and mythical mountain ranges, graced with yearning, melancholia inducing strings and hovering non-vocalisms, clanging, dreamlike and tribal'esque polyrhythms, washed out atmospheres as well as crackly harmonic minimalisms especially prevalent in the timeless and time-defying beauty of the concluding cut that is "Memangsa Penguasa (The Prey And The Rulers)". This is a trip - and one well worth taking.