robert haigh: darkling streams

ltd repress. Robert Haigh is a veteran of UK underground music from the early '80s onwards. In the '80s he worked on seminal Nurse With Wound albums and released a series of darkly ambient albums and EPs under the name Sema. The '90s saw Haigh experimenting with atmospheric textures and sequenced rhythms under the name Omni Trio. From the mid-naughties onwards, Haigh has returned to his love of minimal piano counterpoint with releases on Seal Pool, Crouton, Siren, and now Primary Numbers. Darkling Streams is the anticipated follow-up to the acclaimed trio of piano albums released on Siren Records between 2009 and 2011. Taking up where the Siren trilogy left off, Darkling Streams is a collection of piano miniatures with occasional wisps of shimmering electronic texture. As with the Siren albums, the pieces are intimate, atmospheric, hauntingly melodic, and introspective. Shades of Satie, Harold Budd, Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, and Ryuichi Sakamoto can be detected in these works but never to the extent of overshadowing Haigh's distinctive expression and harmonic preoccupations. This current set stands apart, however, with the inclusion of a handful of extended pieces. Tracks such as "Fugue State," "Of Eros and Dust," and "Rain for Avalon" have an epic and darkly cinematic quality not heard on previous albums. Limited to 500 copies.