KARDA ESTRA

The Age Of Science And Enlightenment KARDAESTRA.BANDCAMP.COM

Evocative career high point remastered and expanded.

Richard Wileman has been making music as Karda Estra for a quarter of a century. Technology has advanced so much during that time that the Swindon-based multiinstrumentalist has seen fit to give some of his favourite past releases a contemporary polish.

The Age Of Science And Enlightenment is a great choice for remastering and extra tinkering. Originally released in 2006 via prog imprint Cyclops, it showcased a more refined but increasingly fearless approach, wherein noirish chamber music and neo-classical creepiness collided with surreal atmospheres and any number of strange intrusions.

Wileman’s new version is an enthusiastic reimagining. Opening three-part suite The Return Of John Deth lays out Karda Estra’s musical world, with strings, woodwind and brass woven into an ever-changing backdrop. Both the title track’s tense, neo-classical reverie and the mournful, Satie-like two-minute piano piece Heads highlight the more minimalist side to Wileman’s work, while Am I Dreaming You? Are You Dreaming Me? revels in skewed, cinematic lushness, with strings and rolling waves of Mellotron. Perfectly serene and unnerving as a result, Carmilla’s blend of ghostly choirs and acid folk acoustics sounds like the soundtrack to some obscure, 70s horror flick featuring rather too much nudity.

Wileman has also added some rare and unreleased material to the tracklist. Previously featured on a Cyclops sampler, the unpredictable sevenminute sprawl The Alpha And The Omega is what would have resulted if Ennio Morricone had been a member of Art Zoyd and had composed for a big budget pirate movie, while the previously unheard Talos Aeterna is an amorphous dose of queasy listening, with shades of Scott Walker’s microtonal mania.

Karda Estra’s expansive catalogue has no shortage of gems, but The Age Of Science And Enlightenment stands out as a particularly focused, and now improved, burst of inspiration.