Sexless Merit is a release that I have been fixating on for some time (listening to all three tapes over and over again, much to the annoyance of some people that may or may not live in my house anymore) all the while enjoying every minute but not quite having anything to say about the six pieces that inhabit these tapes, and, as a matter of fact, I feel almost like my every conscious thought is completely obliterated whenever I start the cycle over again; while I would not necessarily term Sexless Merit as the definitive soundtrack to the oblivion at the edges of the known universe (you know, where Yog-Sothoth may or may not sleep), this Cremation Lily, this enigma of sound is equal parts mesmerizing and claustrophobic with just the tiniest dash of unease or discomfort thrown in for good measure.
Cremation Lily certainly is adept at bringing some churning, mechanistic sounds together to create something supremely entrancing (the low-end rumble of “Cotton Whispering” or the almost wall of noise that is “Dressing Like A Doll” perfectly illustrate this aspect), and even when it may seem like the compositions sound similar, Cremation Lily turns that thought into a misconception as in “Queen Cancer” whose noise sounds like the second half of “Dressing Like A Doll” until the drone kicks in and takes over and dominates the aural sound scape or in “Draped”, which at first seems like a sister track to “Cotton Whispering” but ends up sounding like a primitive industrial track with a subtle bouncing rhythm.
There is an almost perceptible undertone of violence heard throughout Sexless Merit that was previously unheard in other Cremation Lily releases, and this violence turns on a dime to an ominous malice with “The Place Which Hides Her” seemingly bringing together every sonic form heard throughout all three tapes together into one crushing piece of noisy bliss as if the other 5 pieces were simply preparing you for this moment when the melodic and caressing sounds deceivingly peak out from the maelstrom. The effect is astounding, and, while not everyone would become as fixated as I am, the reason that I keep pulling out the third tape in a barely conscious series of gestures and starting again from the very beginning; the real impressive quality of Sexless Merit is the manner in which Cremation Lily sounds so fresh and vital in a sometimes hard to navigate sea of similar cohorts and analogs.
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