Elicoor13
no other band can make an album where they cover the same song 9 times and still have the rest of the album be good, let alone be one of the most iconic neo-folk albums ever.
Dalton
cats, horsies, boats. nothing is off limits when tibet wants to instill the feeling of the apocalypse.
Favorite track: Idumea (vocals Bonnie Prince Billy).
Levrikon
This is it: what everything Current 93 had been working toward. Not only a jaw-dropping masterpiece, one of the best albums ever recorded. They took their gothic folk sound as far as could possibly go with this, there was no way to continue so the records after went in a totally different direction. The different versions of Idumæa are all absolutely heart-wrenching... next to Swans' The Seer this is the closest art has ever come to inspiring religious fervor in me.
Favorite track: Idumea (vocals: Shirley Collins).
David Tibet
Michael Cashmore
Ben Chasny
John Contreras
Steven Stapleton
Marc Almond
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Baby Dee
Ida Mercer
Antony
Clodagh Simonds
Cosey Fanni Tutti
Chris Carter
Andria Degens
Shirley Collins
Iris Bishop
Amy Phillips
William Breeze
William Basinski
Colin Potter
Sleeve Notes
A Hallucinatory Patripassianist Dream
The texts for this album were started following an intense dream I had that Black Ships had entered our skys in preparation for the arising of the final Cæsar and for the Second Coming of Christ. In subsequent dreams I saw geometric faces , colours, words and shapes falling into my head. They appeared as a multitude of images; they were dreamlike yet vital, manifesting as processions of characters and scenesand dialogues that shifted between being utterly lacking in conventional perspectiveto that of being hyper-dimensional. I commenced writing furiously, and the words of Black Ships Ate The Sky are the recording of this period in my life.
I asked those friends and artists whom I love and whose works I most admire to interpret the haunted words of that great hymn "Idumæa" by Charles Wesley; this piece had become an obsession for me before starting work on this albumand its face watched over all these Black Ships, providing one key to this Hallucinatory Patripassianist Dream.
I live in an increasing awareness that a Love will some suddenly who will finally tear our skies apart. And then all Black Ships will be no more. This album was started four years ago by myself and Michael Cahsmore without whom this album would not exist, and finished four years later by myself and Ben Chasny, John Contreras and Steven Stapleton, without whom too this album would not exist. My heartfelt thanks to them for all they have done. More detailed acknowledgements can be found below, but I also wish to thank those other friends who worked on this album, for without them there would be just words. Andria, Marc, Will, Dee, Antony, Clodagh, Cosey, Chris, Shirley, Amy, Bill, William, Mark, Colin, Geoff, Al, Paul, Lance: thank you.
Thanks too to Blessed John Bradburne for prayers answered and and favours received.
I Dedicate Black Ships Ate The Sky to our beloved friend and companion Squiggy who went on from us on St. Valentine's Day, 2006. May she rest in the Love of Christ till all times and and all friends meet again.
Thank you, again, to all those who created and worked on this album.
And to those who contributed with their friendship and support: above all, Mark Logan of Durtro Jnana Records, whose friendship and endless generosity and love kept me from capsizing under the approach of Black Ships.
I wish to acknowledge, too, the kindness of Lance Eccles who answered my endless questions about Coptic with great patience and generosity of spirit. Black Ships were launched at the same time I became obsessed with this language. Any small progress I have made in Coptic would be immeasurably less without his help.
Also my love and thanks to: Olivia Bunting, Stefanie Thiel, Stephanie Volkmar, Lynn Jackson, Carolyn Cox-Dorée, Ayse Tuzlak, Chris Hakius, Stephen O'Malley, Rob Fisk, Maja Elliott, Nick Church, Jhonn Balance, Henry Boxer, Lauren Winton, Michael Lawrence, Gary Held, Tony Sylvester, Matt Sweeney, Cam Archer, Howard Wuelf, Fabrizio Modenese Palumbo, Giulio Di Mauro, Enrico Croci, Greg Peters, Paul Cheshire, Jeremy Cantwell, Denis Blackham, Stephanie Meixner, Ossian Brown, Stephen Thrower, Tim Renner, Joolie Wood, Simon Finn, Allison Schnackenberg, José Pacheco, Hymenæus Beta, Nikki Howes, Nidge Ince, Celia Brigstocke of the John Bradburne Society, Kat Cormie, Timothy d'Arch Smith, Paul Deighton, Bill Fay, Gary Smith, Thomas Ligotti, Little Annie, Richard Moult, Mark Coyle, Michael Kolson, KatieJane Garside, Julia Kent, Johan Kugelberg, Nick Blinko, Joe Budenholzer, Devendra Banhart, David and Sara Surkamp.
And thanks to all those who supported the recording of this album by subscribing to it 93 years in advance. Without you all, Nihil.
David Michael Tibet is the founder of the Hallucinatory Patripassianist rock group Current 93 as well as the new sphere,
MYRNINEREST.
Born in Malaysia in 1960, David has created a unique, highly influential and extraordinarily powerful body of work – spanning music, painting, poetry and translation....more
supported by 46 fans who also own “Black Ships Ate the Sky”
one of the most beautiful albums i've ever heard. in my top20 best album of all time. just artfully done and meticulously produced, all around, iheartf2p
“Strangers” is packed with wonderfully menacing electro-goth—late-night horror movie music for vampire dance parties. Bandcamp New & Notable May 8, 2023
An early ’90s cult classic of goth/dark folk gets a vinyl reissue, its haunting songs as gripping and resonant as ever. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 15, 2022