For this album,
Lucian Casselman is out and
A Chaos of Desire-era vocalist
Juliana Towns is back. While the lineup returns to the more collective sense of performances from past albums, core performers
Sam Rosenthal and
Oscar Herrera, along with flautist
Lisa Feuer (who adds a fine new dimension to the general instrumental approach), still have
Vicki Richards on violin on various tracks, but
Mera Roberts only plays on one song while other guests perform oboe, harpsichord and other instruments. After the marvelous
Remnants of a Deeper Purity,
As One Aflame Laid Bare by Desire lacks a little something in comparison. The trademark lushness of performance and instrumentation remains, and both
Herrera and
Towns, as well as
Rosenthal, discharge their vocal duties as well as always (aside from the opening title track, which
Rosenthal sings somewhat awkwardly). Still, too many pieces veer toward the tastefully anonymous at points, while the lyrical focus on
Marcel Duchamp's work
"The Bride Stripped Bare," though intriguing, almost turns the album into a running essay rather than a series of songs. This said, there is still a number of strong, focused pieces, including the
Apollo-era
Eno evocative
"The Apotheosis" and
"Russia" (which quotes the same
Prokofiev line as
Sting's
"Russians," but much less obnoxiously).
"The Green Box," meanwhile, contains the classic sense of brooding
electronic menace and beauty, heightened by
Richards' violin, which has so often defined
Black Tape's most successful work. ~ Ned Raggett
