That Alastair Galbraith should return to the Siltbreeze fold (responsible for his debut LP, Morse, in 1993) for his latest release seems practically tailor-made. But while Morse followed traditional avenues of rugged folk narrative tinged with psychedelic foxing, Mass is an unchartered, one-way trip through a world of ritual.
Consisting of 22 tracks, this new album runs the gamut from mysterious beauty to just plain mysterious. Broken guitars, percussive loops, backwards tracking, a (homemade) glass harmonium, lullabies, bagpipe thievery and the odd bit of fighting talk are just some of the many bricks laid here, with Galbraith himself as the mortar and Amiel Balester, Michael Kohler and David Kilgour providing assistance here and there. Mass is an expansive whopper prepared to go anywhere and do anything to get there.