Stan Ridgway & Pietra Wexstun - Music For Mark Ryden's "Blood" FLAC

This limited edition album comes with two covers, and sees the pairing of Stan Ridgway [late of Wall of Voodoo] and Pietra Wexstun [of Hecate’s Angels], where together they composed a soundtrack of sorts for a series of paintings by Mark Ryden entitled “Blood,” where the music was part of the installation at the Earl McGrath Gallery in New York back in 2003.

With the music be released as a limited [7,500 copies] edition triptych package that features the work of Ryden’s art, meaning that with so many copies, finding one should be rather easy, though no doubt a bit pricey.  It was a natural fit for Wexstun and Ridgway to collaborate here, as their work musically parallels that of Ryden, who’s stylistic approach is obsessed with an amalgam of pop culture and kitsch, filled with surrealistic haunting darkness, and what appears to be the face of Christina Ricci* painted over and over again in differing variations and themes.

If one is aware of the work by Stan Ridgway, you’ll instantly recognize that Blood is drawn from the work Stan did with a company named the Acme Soundtracks, prior to joining Wall of Voodoo, with this thematic soundtrack aspect being a recurring theme on many of his albums.  The music presented is lush and spooky, often hypnotic and flowing, and deeply atmospheric and melodic.  This is not the sort of ambient music one would associate with say Brian Eno, Blood is essentially quietly relentless and completes a hazed musical story within each song.

It would be easy to wave this release off as simply an ambient effort, yet it compellingly draws you in, and when you do walk through that door for a second time, you’ll find yourself ever more deeply immersed and surrounded by wordless whispers that are flanked by undefined voices featuring Pietra Wexstun that sound delightful and intoxicating, yet sinister in the same breath, where a cohesive soundtrack ushers you down a gallery of both the images of Ryden, and the dense intensity of a musical production that quietly unwraps itself, with a surprise within each package.

*** Christina Ricci (born February 12, 1980) is an American actress who began her acting career appearing in commercials and received early recognition as a child star. Her debut performance in Mermaids (1990) was followed by a breakthrough role as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and its sequel Addams Family Values (1993).  Following her success with the Addams Family films, she earned somewhat of a teen icon status thanks to appearances in various big budget productions, notably Now and Then (1995) and Casper (1995), which were marketed for younger audiences, before making a successful transition into adult-oriented roles with the art house drama The Ice Storm (1997).

Review by Jenell Kesler