Indies Only Yellow Vinyl.

Masters of the dark, Coil famously proposed that, to paraphrase heavily, the night time is the right time. Coil always seemed to perform an astounding magick trick: their music was always shrouded in mystery, their practices and musickal rituals informed by anything from the occult, to sex, to technology, to any effulvium that dripped out of the cultural landscape they themselves helped to sculpt. Coil’s music revels in darkness, the eroticism of the unknown or barely known, it curls around the body and the auras and emotional resonances eminating from it. Indeed, for a band so steeped in history and mystery, for a band so lauded and influential sometimes it’s easy to forget about the music…

Musick To Play In The Dark is a real black gem in the band’s discography. Using then-nascent computer technologies to meld a smokey kosmische music with “moon music,” it’s a deeply, inkily nocturnal piece that uses electronics, drones, detoured versions of E2-E4 techno and synthesizers. Like all of Coil’s music it derives much of its power from being partly visible, obscuring effects twisting musical forms out of ear shot. As well as the ever-present Jhonn Balance and Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson there are substantial contributions from collaborators Thighpaulsandra and Drew McDowall, with their analogue and modular synthesis adding some linear musicality to tracks like Red Birds Will Fly Out. Musick To Play In The Dark frolics in the half-light, technoid forms melting into into icy, digitized angels singing a chorus to the full moon. It’s a landmark album for both Coil and electronic music in general and we’re delighted it’s been reissued as it’s previously been unattainably expensive. This is the limited, indies-only yellow vinyl version and it is now sold out at source.