School of the Flower

Ben Chasny has had a busy 21st century thus far. He's had six new recordings come out since the year 2000 and two others reissued, and he's become a full-time recording and touring member of Comets On Fire. School of the Flower stands somewhere between Compathia and For Octavio Paz, a mysterious, beautifully executed series of airy yet mysterious vocal and instrumental songs that put Chasny's elliptical guitar playing front and center (as has become the norm, he also plays organ and sings) and are draped in Chris Corsano's darkly textured percussion and organ work. In all, School of the Flower is another step in a remarkable journey. It is full of emotion yet never sophomoric, it is full of aural poetry and never pretentious, and it is full of that certain mercurial grace that makes each new offering from Six Organs of Admittance something wholly other and an essential listen.