Black Ships Ate the Sky

Personnel: David Tibet Michael Cashmore Ben Chasny John Contreras Steven Stapleton Marc Almond Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Baby Dee Ida Mercer Antony Clodagh Simonds Cosey Fanni Tutti Chris Carter Andria Degens Shirley Collins Iris Bishop Amy Phillips William Breeze William Basinski Colin Potter Sleeve Notes A Hallucinatory Patripassianist Dream The texts for this album were started following an intense dream I had that Black Ships had entered our skys in preparation for the arising of the final Cæsar and for the Second Coming of Christ. In subsequent dreams I saw geometric faces , colours, words and shapes falling into my head. They appeared as a multitude of images; they were dreamlike yet vital, manifesting as processions of characters and scenesand dialogues that shifted between being utterly lacking in conventional perspectiveto that of being hyper-dimensional. I commenced writing furiously, and the words of Black Ships Ate The Sky are the recording of this period in my life. I asked those friends and artists whom I love and whose works I most admire to interpret the haunted words of that great hymn "Idumæa" by Charles Wesley; this piece had become an obsession for me before starting work on this albumand its face watched over all these Black Ships, providing one key to this Hallucinatory Patripassianist Dream. I live in an increasing awareness that a Love will some suddenly who will finally tear our skies apart. And then all Black Ships will be no more. This album was started four years ago by myself and Michael Cahsmore without whom this album would not exist, and finished four years later by myself and Ben Chasny, John Contreras and Steven Stapleton, without whom too this album would not exist. My heartfelt thanks to them for all they have done. More detailed acknowledgements can be found below, but I also wish to thank those other friends who worked on this album, for without them there would be just words. Andria, Marc, Will, Dee, Antony, Clodagh, Cosey, Chris, Shirley, Amy, Bill, William, Mark, Colin, Geoff, Al, Paul, Lance: thank you. Thanks too to Blessed John Bradburne for prayers answered and and favours received. I Dedicate Black Ships Ate The Sky to our beloved friend and companion Squiggy who went on from us on St. Valentine's Day, 2006. May she rest in the Love of Christ till all times and and all friends meet again. I Am Black Ship David Tibet, March 5 2006 Current 93 dreamt Black Ships sailing by, sailing by, sailing by: David Tibet voice, guitars on 19, electric leaking voices passim; Michael Cashmore guitars on 1, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 14, 20, slide guitar on 3, bass guitar on 20; Ben Chasny guitar on 2, 4, 9, 17, 18; John Contreras cello; Steven Stapleton goatheard. With: Marc Almond voice on 1; Bonnie 'Prince' Billy voice, banjo and tambura on 5; Baby Dee voice and harp, Ida Mercer cello on 8; Antony voice on 10, voice and piano on 15; Clodagh Simonds voice, psaltery, zither and harmonium on 13; Cosey Fanni Tutti voice and musics, Chris Carter musics on the "Idumæa" section of 14; Andria Degens voice, Appalachian dulcimer and harmonica on 16; Shirley Collins voice, Iris Bishop concertina on 21; Amy Phillips subliminal threnodic voice on 14 and 19; William Breeze viola on 17 and 19; William Basinski 9.29.82 galaxial compositions on 12 and 18. Astral projection protection production by Mark Logan, Al Cisneros and Tina Gordon with thanks and blessings. Mixed by Steven Stapleton, David Tibet and Colin Potter at The Water Tower, England. Engineered by Colin Potter at The Water Tower. Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering. All texts by David Tibet except "Idumæa" , written by Charles Wesley, and the phrase "Hello Monkey-Paw" which was how I was greeted by John Contreras in a letter in 2005. Music on tracks 1, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 14, 20 written by Michael Cashmore; music on tracks 2, 4, 9, 17, 18 written by Ben Chasny; music on track 15 by Antony; music on track 19 by David Tibet. All cello arrangements by John Contreras. All other musics by David Tibet and Steven Stapleton with Colin Potter, except for the versions of "Idumæa" which are all arranged and played by the specific singer, with the exception of track 1, arranged by Michael Cashmore/Marc Almond and track 21, arranged by Shirley Collins/Iris Bishop. Hallucinatory icons and paintings by Seth and Anna Cox-Dorée. Hallucinatory Scrawl by geoff Cox-Dorée. Cover design by David Tibet with the assistance of Paul Jackson, to whom great thanks. Coptic text and translations by Lance Eccles. Black Ships Ate The Sky: all tracks (p) and © 2006 as follows: track 1 Marc Almond/Michael Cashmore/Charles Wesley/David Tibet; tracks 2, 4, 9, 17, David Tibet/Ben Chasny and track 18 David Tibet/Ben Chasny/William Basinski/Charles Wesley; tracks 3, 6, 7, 11, 14 (part one), 20 David Tibet/Michael Cashmore and track 12 David Tibet/Michael Cashmore/William Basinski; track 5 Bonnie 'Prince' Billy/Charles Wesley; track 8 Baby Dee/Charles Wesley; track 10 Antony Hegarty/Charles Wesley; tracks 14 (part two) Cosey Fanni Tutti/Chris Carter/Charles Wesley; track 15 David Tibet/Antony Hegarty; track 16 Andria Degens/Charles Wesley; track 19 David Tibet/Charles Wesley; track 21 Shirley Collins/Charles Wesley. Thank you, again, to all those who created and worked on this album. And to those who contributed with their friendship and support: above all, Mark Logan of Durtro Jnana Records, whose friendship and endless generosity and love kept me from capsizing under the approach of Black Ships. I wish to acknowledge, too, the kindness of Lance Eccles who answered my endless questions about Coptic with great patience and generosity of spirit. Black Ships were launched at the same time I became obsessed with this language. Any small progress I have made in Coptic would be immeasurably less without his help. Also my love and thanks to: Olivia Bunting, Stefanie Thiel, Stephanie Volkmar, Lynn Jackson, Carolyn Cox-Dorée, Ayse Tuzlak, Chris Hakius, Stephen O'Malley, Rob Fisk, Maja Elliott, Nick Church, Jhonn Balance, Henry Boxer, Lauren Winton, Michael Lawrence, Gary Held, Tony Sylvester, Matt Sweeney, Cam Archer, Howard Wuelf, Fabrizio Modenese Palumbo, Giulio Di Mauro, Enrico Croci, Greg Peters, Paul Cheshire, Jeremy Cantwell, Denis Blackham, Stephanie Meixner, Ossian Brown, Stephen Thrower, Tim Renner, Joolie Wood, Simon Finn, Allison Schnackenberg, José Pacheco, Hymenæus Beta, Nikki Howes, Nidge Ince, Celia Brigstocke of the John Bradburne Society, Kat Cormie, Timothy d'Arch Smith, Paul Deighton, Bill Fay, Gary Smith, Thomas Ligotti, Little Annie, Richard Moult, Mark Coyle, Michael Kolson, KatieJane Garside, Julia Kent, Johan Kugelberg, Nick Blinko, Joe Budenholzer, Devendra Banhart, David and Sara Surkamp. And thanks to all those who supported the recording of this album by subscribing to it 93 years in advance. Without you all, Nihil. David Tibet

Latest from David Tibet features multiple versions of Charles Wesley's 18th century poem "Idumea", as well as contributions from  Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Antony, and Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny.

For anyone who has followed Current 93 even casually (most who do are obsessive), Black Ships Ate the Sky is a whole new thing on the one hand, and the culmination of what began in earnest on 1992's Thunder Perfect Mind on the other.