Gentle work by JarboeUnlike the title would suggest, Skullgirl is perhaps the most gentle and uplifting work in Jarboe’s oeuvre which holds plenty of darkness. These experimental recordings served as a blueprint for ‘Alchemic’, a full-bodied rock album which was issued by the Argentinean label Twilight Records. The music on Skullgirl and Alchemic is inspired by the Buddhist Tonglen meditation which involves breathing in suffering and breathing out compassion.Skullgirl’s melodious compositions resonate with aspects of Jarboe’s earlier and later solo and collaborative work. For example, the grand orchestral track Enter Here resembles her atmospheric ‘sonospheres’ like Durto James on ‘Indemnity II’ or Under Will on ‘Anhedoniac’. Even on the simple lullaby You’re Here, a comforting atmosphere is palpable.The songs Is This A Portal? and Just for Today evoke Swans’ soulful ballads like The Other Side of the World on ‘Love of Life’. Is This A Portal? unfolds at a stately pace with a blend of sung and whispered lyrics against a screen of birdsong. The simple but enchanting melody of Just for Today is enhanced by intriguing instrumental patterns that caress the delicate vocal. Jarboe’s trademark ‘voice personalities’ inhabit Skullgirl only sparingly, surfacing on acoustic balladry like Ascending Now and Groundless Humility. There’s only the little girl, the growling hag, a hiss here and a whisper there. Nothing as extreme as the legion on Anhedoniac Bottle or I’m a Killer.Starting out with a slow gong-like drum beat, Groundless Humility undergoes a subtle tempo shift and a striking tonal shift from high to low. Then wordless vocals come and go in a sequence of hypnotic interludes before the piece concludes with the single voice. The tempo rises on the catchy Joyful Sorrow, a rhythmic number whose intricate vocals create an atmospheric effect. Bursts of manic laughter, tolling bells, and ghostly single and crazy choral voices do the same on Jump Into the Fire, a piece which percolates with urgent metallic percussion. Skullgirl’s masterpiece, the symphonic Tonglen, has a micropolyphonic texture which is properly Ligetian. Swirling heavenly choirs bring a spacious feel to the sound, extending the melody into other-worldly realms. At first just ghostly, Jarboe’s spoken voice surfaces with a meditation on breathing in darkness, doubt, despair, loneliness and rage, in order to breathe out light, joy, space and peace.As the fourth CDr album released post-MahaKali, Skullgirl differs fundamentally from ‘Durga’, ‘Daksinakali’ and ‘Ugra’. What sets it apart is the theme of liberation from the tyranny of emotion. Whereas the aforementioned titles are all to some extent characterized by motifs of terror, destruction and death, Skullgirl speaks of freedom and healing. It comes as a relief that Jarboe’s magic is not restricted to the sinister but thrives also in the salutary.