Coil Presents Black Light District – A Thousand Lights in a Darkened Room

Coil’s continuing mid-1990s activity operating under different identities to explore approaches resulted in a striking followup to ELpH’s Worship the Glitch with a new name, Black Light District, and the one album under that guise, 1996’s A Thousand Lights In a Darkened Room, which once again features the John Balance/Peter Christopherson/Drew McDowall trio at work together. Stepping away from Worship’s approach, A Thousand Lights tends to feature longer and more formally organized compositions, resembling little so much as the kind of electronic work then familiar from Warp Records acts such as the Aphex Twin’s more experimental side. Hints of Coil’s contemporary remix work for acts like Nine Inch Nails can be found as well, but ultimately it all sounds like its own unique beast. Squirrelly and strange beats and melodies intertwine, ominous drones emerge over atypical-sounding rhythm loops that vary in volume, and an air of at once calm and unnerving sonics dominates. Balance appears under a variety of pseudonyms throughout, making it an even more cryptically engaging experience.