Lucifer Rising by Studio Kosmische

WHY RESCORE LUCIFER RISING – AGAIN?
DOM KEEN, STUDIO KOSMISCHE

Countless musicians have created their own scores for the dialogue-free Lucifer Rising since Beausoleil, Jagger, and Page.

Some (including myself) will see this new rescore as an act of sacrilege; all I can say is that it was created in awe of, and with great respect to, everyone involved in the original work(s).

In a fortuitous parallel to what I feel is the mood of the film Lucifer Rising itself – half rooted in dream-logic; non-linearity; subconscious image-generation over conscious rational decision-making – the process of making this record was a spontaneous happening. It was an occasion formed from what manifested as more than the sum of its parts: it felt as though it created itself, I just happened to be at the controls.

As for what those parts were, the genesis of this soundtrack lies, in part, in a 2022 Studio Kosmische collaboration with UK producer and psychedelic dreamscaper XIMES. Our album, Universe B, ended up with an intensity that surprised me – Studio Kosmische music (to me at least) usually has a rather more sanguine feel.

Universe B sounded ritualistic and occult. Those themes ended up permeating the entire sound, production, and concept – hence the cover image, Leila Waddell, a fin-de-siecle philosopher of magick and violinist who became Aleister Crowley’s muse. The record reminded me a lot of Anger’s work, and in particular, Lucifer Rising.

I started thinking about the connections between the music I was making and the storytellers whose work I loved: avant-garde filmmakers Anger and Alejandro Jodorowsky; French artist, cartoonist and writer Jean “Moebius” Giraud.

Their work is open ended and deliberately ambiguous; it celebrates the power of the subconscious and breaks traditional form. Just as my own work often avoids the classic verse/chorus structure, and is wordless; their art is intentional, but leaves room for the viewers (or in my case, listeners) to fill in the gaps. The artist’s work, then, belongs to the people consuming it: it becomes a vessel for their own thoughts, feelings and experiences; and encourages that unique interplay of art and viewer, musician and listener.

This record celebrates those sort of abstract relationships and connections, bringing together excerpts of music from previous Studio Kosmische releases including Universe B, Alpha 77, Omega 76 and Ritual 74 – modulated, sometimes pitched, equalised, edited and embellished to reflect the visual trajectory of the film.

Writing in 2023, the month after Kenneth Anger’s passing, my hope with this record is that it goes some way – however small – to help spread the futuristic visions that Anger dreamed when he first filmed Lucifer Rising over 50 years ago.

Music completed February 27, 2023
Dom Keen, Jon Parkes & David Wurth

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