Leila Abdul-Rauf's "Phantasiai" Summons Ethereal Spirits (Full Album Stream)

Though Leila Abdul-Rauf might be better known around these parts as a member of metal bands Vastum and Cardinal Wyrm (and the dearly departed Saros, whose Five Pointed Tongue and Acrid Plains are worthy of high praise), but her adventures into ambient and post-industrial music under her own name craft a deeper sense of texture and creativity in an already stellar discography. On Phantasiai, Abdul-Rauf’s fourth solo album, we find the artist moving further away from the warmth once found on 2013’s Cold and Cloud, a shift found five years later in Diminuition, and yet the phantasmic sound found on this latest effort displays a different type of contemplation. Resonant horns and chiming bells pair with a wandering voice to craft a ghostly atmosphere, a spiritual plan upon which the listener crafts their own inner manifestations. “I encourage listeners to create their own stories about Phantasiai,” says Abdul-Rauf, and this album crafts a tabula rasa from which stories can be crafted, an endless emptiness from which anything can appear and thrive. Listen to Phantasiai in full below.

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Phantasiai releases July 16th on Cyclic Law, with a vinyl release coordinated between Cyclic Law and Cloister Recordings to follow in September.