- Medicine Voice is a new group and Its mainstay is Sar Friedman. Her voice is quite accurately compared to Cat Power, Bat For Lashes and especially PJ Harvey, which might make you wonder why you haven’t heard much about this Sydney chanteuse before. I’m sure that has something to do with her abiding interest in mystical drone music (not exactly storming the charts), which she’s pursued under the moniker Heartswin.

As Medicine Voice Sar gets a real opportunity to show off her vocal cords. Indeed this debut record is a transformative one and -I think for Sar- it’s in a spiritual and philosophical sense as much as anything else, perhaps more so. She’s described I And Thou as a ‘vision quest’, informed by the ever-popular anthropological work of Joseph Campbell’s Hero With A Thousand Faces and Martin Buber’s existential wrestling with the concept of the other. The weight of the project is obvious, even from its opening bars: an acapella titled Heartswin At The Gate Of Great Doubt / I And It. Sar repetitively intones: “Baby you’ve got a lot of karma to burn” pausing before the enormity of it to fearfully contemplate being “caught in the flames”.

Hesitant or not, Sar is clearly prepared to take on a challenge, plunging into the twelve minute soundscape of to the forest / meeting the white spirit. She’s brought capable help for the journey in the form of famed experimental guitarist Oren Ambarchi, the wide-ranging percussion talent of Joe Talia and the viola chops of James Rushford. Her trio of helpers have actually worked together a number of times before and produce a thoroughly interleaved sound, but I must admit that in this context it’s the rumbling timbre of Ambarchi’s guitar which immediately stands out. Not quite the fiery roar he’s imparted to Sunn O)))’s records, but in To The Forest there’s a subtle menace that underwrites the reverberant ambience, which otherwise recalls the more meditative moments of Vangelis Bladerunner soundtrack.  

Some of the intricacies of Friedman’s philosophical flips will be tough to pick up quickly, but the musical transformations are self-evident and impressive. Out of the rolling waves of the soundscape, single aham / realm of the wild women barrels forth on a propulsive drum beat with Sar sounding her most PJ Harvey-ish and the guitars growling appropriately. Even here, at it’s most rocking, there’s always a sense of repetition, a hypnotic, ritualistic effect; achieving transcendence by obsessing on a single gesture, over and over again. It’s one of the achievements of I & Thou that these kraut-ish, droning figures don’t let you drift away, but create a sense of inescapable and increasing tension reminiscent of Swans. These sweat-inducing sections are neatly interspersed with welcome tracts of ambient peace; an astutely achieved balance and harmony.

The seven minutes of nibiru / death of dreams on the holy mountain feels transitional: rolling, fuzzy drone breaks into an organ-powered psych rocker, maybe a bit like Moon Duo, before sinking into more of those ambient soundscapes. the roman / crossing the fourth threshold is an unexpectedly traditional -if still slowly hypnotic- stab at singer-songwriter fare, backed with echoing piano arpeggios and overlaid with scintillating guitar licks. Just to make sure nothing is left untried, the final cut beyond beyond / i and thou is a repetitively chanted spiritual backed with a rainstick, recounting some kind of interpersonal transubstantiation of the spirit. It’s a surprisingly warm gesture to finish with.

I would be less than honest if I say I got all of Sar Friedman’s vision quest, but her transformation from Heartswin to Medicine Voice is, nonetheless, a highly fulfilling musical experience. For all the experimentation and mysticism this is a record with immediacy and a human touch. Its diverse approaches are all worth visiting and revisiting. If there’s a considerable gap of philosophical comprehension between Sar’s I and my thou, that gulf isn’t cold, forbidding, but exciting, a welcome opportunity for a journey of one’s own.

- Chris Cobcroft.