DAVID TIBET & STEVEN STAPLETON – The Sadness Of Things (1991)

“In tristitia hilaris, in hilaritate tristis.” (Giordano Bruno)

The first release under the David Tibet & Steven Stapleton monicker sounds a bit closer to he latter (NWW) than to the former (C93). We have two tracks totalling over 50 minutes. Dreamy, dark, ritual atmospheres with some spoken word thrown here and there. The title track is definitely the highlight. The violin part that starts around the 20-minute mark is gorgeous. (Miklak@RateYourMusic)

Eccentric goofballs Steven Stapleton and David Tibet are BFFs and like to skip through the flowers holding hands and make friendship bracelets and anyway, my fanfiction aside, they’re interesting collaborators that tend to bring out the best in each other. One example: this lovely album. While this is a Tibet/Stapleton collab, it’s a bit closer to the latter, consisting of two lengthy dark ambient tracks. Where Tibet seems to come in, aside from some brief spoken word, is in the more organic tone he brings to the table. While Nurse With Wound tends to be purposefully alien-sounding, these soundscapes are lush and emotional. This is especially true of the title track, which beautifully employs flute for a piece only rivaled by “Funeral Music for Perez Prado” as the most directly emotional ambient track Stapleton’s worked on. Occasional words from Tibet and various sounds keep things from getting too boring over the runtime. The second track, despite its great name, is less interesting. It’s a darker piece based around a swelling drone, a bit reminiscent of Soliloquy for Lilith. It’s got some cool mysterious sounds in the background adding a sense of drama to the groaning drone, and it’s a pretty solid dark ambient track, but it feels less special than the title track. Still, this is a good album on the whole and definitely deserves a place in the Nurse With Wound canon. It’s also a hell of a lot better than those early industrial Current 93 albums. (gazoinks@RateYourMusic)

Two of the most beautiful and satisfying pieces ever recorded by Stapleton, here with David Tibet (as usual). Musically floating somewhere near the vien of Soliloquay For Lilith, yet with a more expansive and varied sound, using instruments such as a flute in the first track and processed voice in the second to create the ‘floating drone’ effect, rather than straight electronic tones. This release is actually quite advanced for it’s place in the Stapleton discography, with a level of sophistication that doesn’t really develop until An Awkward Pause, though crept through in Thunder Perfect Mind. In short, this might be my favourite NWW related record and should be sought out by any fan interested in the more expansive, ambient/soundworld side of Nurse With Wound, or if you like the work of Brian Eno. (Gaiatree@RateYourMusic)