Black Happy Day In The Garden of Ghostflowers

Poetic, frightening, and pure, the collaboration of Tara Vanflower (Lycia/Solo) and Timothy Renner (Stone Breath) provide songs that do not lie within the usual formulas of music.  This album begins with the eerie “The Leaves of Life,” chanted in poetry form by shared vocals of Renner (a chanting bass) and Vanflower (chanting and ethereally beautiful).

It progresses through the shocking brutality of “Whore,” which swims in the essence of self-deprecation and loathing, the ancient-like story telling of “Edward,” and chilling musicality of “Of The Wind and Loneliness.”  There is the witch-like dirge of “How They Weep and Moan,” with its unsettling chants and percussion, and the ancient musical form of the prayerful “A Lyke Wake Dirge.”

In The Garden of Ghostflowers benefits greatly from the marriage of Vanflower’s equally eerie and ethereal vocals and her affiliation with Lycia and Timothy Renner’s involvement with Stone Breath, whose own hymn-like tunes were unique in their presentations.  Together, their project can be considered dark and remarkable.  You must approach the strangely named band with an anticipation of foreboding music.  In the Garden of Ghostflowers is not your typical Top 40 music nor is it airy.  It is, instead, a dive into the darkness without a parachute; it is an album of originality and of beauty.  It is distinctly not for everyone but, for those who are complete music lovers, it will be a rewarding experience.  

This is Silber’s most notable original release in their catalogue aside from their remastering of the classic Lycia canon.