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Review: Mark McGuire – Noctilucence

★★★★☆
Four Stars

When asked to review Mark McGuire’s latest release, Noctilucence, I let out a sigh at the pretentious name. It required a concerted effort to fathom just what ‘noctilucence’ actually means (the phenomenon of clouds glowing at night — who knew?). My further discoveries of fourteen-minute songs did little to raise my hopes.

Yet Noctilucence surpassed all of my assumptions.

Its five tracks provide a stunning complexity of sound shrouded with an almost extraterrestrial undertone. Even if the weird and wonderful isn’t for you, it’s hard to deny the sheer complexity of the songs.

The album is also beautifully symmetrical. Opening track ‘Freedom of Spirit’ is reminiscent of a church choir, its ethereal vocals adding another layer to the song, ensuring that it constantly rushes up to full intensity before ebbing away. The album peaks with title track ‘Noctilucence’, which nevertheless frustrates with its long yet intense opening, before changing beautifully after four minutes into unadulterated electric guitar.

The album works incredibly well as a whole, let down only in the incredibly long introductions, which induce a sense of guilt for feeling frustrated at such beautiful music. If questioning the universe through instrumental music is for you, then McGuire’s Noctilucence comes highly recommended.

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