Review: Alora Crucible – Oak Lace Apparition

Style: Neofolk, Tribal Ambient, Neoclassical New Age (Clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Jeremy Soule, Nature and Organisation, literally any of Toby Driver’s projects
Review by: Dave
Country: Massachusetts, United States
Release date: 8 August 2024

What do you get when you take a Toby Driver project, strip away the metallic viscera of Kayo Dot, deconstruct the moody Radiohead-meets-post-hardcore sensibilities of Maudlin of the Well, and forego the horrifying imagery of solo work like In the L…L…Library Loft? The end result is Alora Crucible, a Toby Driver project focused less on outwardly intense expression and dedicated to exploring softer orchestral ideas. Debut Thymiamatascension combined new-age sensibilities with touches of post-rock, coming across as the soundtrack to arcane alchemical experimentation akin to tracks like “The Second Operation (Lunar Water)” from Kayo Dot’s Hubardo. Follow-up release Oak Lace Apparition teases the listener with imagery of oaken specters and album art of a looming spherical creature among a gray forest. Does Alora Crucible’s latest exist in a similarly tranquil space as previous output or has the project adopted Driver’s familiar taste for the uncanny?

Oak Lace Apparition eschews the post-rock elements of Thymiamatascension and focuses instead on textured orchestral new-age soundscapes and hypnotic tribal ambient vignettes, manifesting as raw animist neofolk seeking to explore mystical otherworlds nested in the most secluded corners of the forest, featuring the lush impressionist meandering found in Jeremy Soule-style soundtracks combined with the focus on strings present in Musk Ox’s output. An effervescent natural beauty is present across Oak Lace Apparition, accompanied by hints of dissonance created by exceedingly bright chord choices underlying much of the string orchestration. A veritable spectrum of greens are used to paint forest imagery contrasted by stark shadows on “Amongst Ewdendrift a Corridor,” established with a hypnotic plucked motif that is occasionally accented by sharp string instrumentation that is almost overwhelming in its lusciousness; opener “Through the mist, a peak of icy water; where can I find you, pelagian bird?,” gently rocks back and forth between dynamic extremes as moments of woodland serenity are bookended by moments of trees thrashing in unison as unnaturally powerful gusts push over the forest like fingers brushing over high pile carpet; and “Cenote Vacío” sees the listener hunched over a placid river as sparse instrumentation creates a gentle, pillowy backdrop to spoken word poetry.

At times, the oversaturated imagery can be almost too much to take in. Closer “I Destination” is a sixteen-minute piece carried by the discordant wail of bright violins, ebbing and flowing from foreground to background as other motifs and voices overlap in melodious cacophony for brief moments before being swallowed up by the original violin motif, an experience akin to a warm embrace of light beaming from an impossibly beautiful eldritch god, terrifying in its splendor. The gentle chanting of “I destination…” augments this terror further, signaling to the listener that following this light will lead to the end, but the end of what exactly is hard to say: all that is revealed at the end of this piece is a metallic-yet-organic chirping sound that fizzles out, bringing the experience to a cathartic albeit unsettling close as whatever was beckoning to you has finally met you face-to-face.

Therein lies my biggest hurdle when listening to Oak Lace Apparition, and many other Toby Driver projects: it tends to veer too far into these worldly-yet-otherworldly soundscapes, leaving the listener to meander hopelessly around unsettling instrumentation. A core element that draws me so intensely to  dark/neofolk is its ability to foster a deep connection to the natural world, and when Oak Lace Apparition paints the forest as so beautiful that the beauty turns into hostility, the listen becomes uncomfortable and the connection to nature is ruptured, in the process dragging out these unenjoyable ideas over tracks that are, save for one, eight minutes or longer. This is not to detract from the genuinely serene moments, however, as tracks that feature just a touch of dissonance like “Amongst Ewdendrift a Corridor,” “Spindle’s Whorl,” and “Unseen Ending in the Grass Above” are at their core touching and gorgeous, showing a tasteful balance between that which is grounded in reality and that which is unknowable.

Like many Toby Driver projects, I have a complicated relationship with Oak Lace Apparition: I find many moments to be beautiful, too beautiful even, to the point of making my skin crawl. There is a familiar and worldly musical base that is undeniably lush and texturally rich, and at the same time, the entire package is laced in quasi-eldritch dissonance, the end result a hyper-vivid simulacrum of reality that is fundamentally altered from its source material, and that, frankly, freaks me the hell out. If that is an experience that intrigues you, then I urge you to give Oak Lace Apparition a listen, but if you are less comfortable with experiences that feel like your understanding of reality is being pushed, then look to more standard folk output like Ulver‘s Kveldssanger or Musk Ox‘s Woodfall.

Recommended tracks: Amidst Ewdendrift a Corridor, Cenote Vacío, Unseen Ending in the Grass Above, Spindle’s Whorl
You may also like: Geinoh Yamashigurumi, Stephan Micus, Musk Ox
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | RateYourMusic page

Label: House of Mythology – Official Site | Bandcamp | Facebook

Alora Crucible is:
– Toby Driver (vocals, hammered dulcimer)
– Timba Harris (violin)
– Cristina Pérez (piano, synthesizer)