FEON - Darkness Within Darkness (2026)

Firstly, I'm very aware that I started the year saying I would take a break from releasing music on Invisible Inc. This release, however, could not be passed up.
"Darkness Within Darkness" was originally intended to be released on Optimo Music. However, this sadly was not to be, after my friend and Optimo Music driving force, Keith McIvor, died of a brain tumour last September.
Having been entrusted by Keith to 'tie up' loose ends with Optimo Music accounts after his death (a job I was unfortunately unable to complete) it became apparent that there were a couple of releases finalised and waiting in the sidelines to be released. One of these was the Natural Magic II album which was already in production and which felt right to release on OM posthumously, the other being "Darkness Within Darkness", which, with Optimo Music's closure, was left hanging in the aether.
Having worked with Feon aka Fionn Macdiarmid in the past, it felt like Invisible Inc would be the ideal alternative home for the album.
And for me it couldn't be a more appropriate body of music. Completely different to the kind of music Feon has been known for, this album has a 'spiritual' feel about it which very much resonates with me, in the same way as I could imagine Keith being attracted to it too: combining elements of ambient, jazz, folk, post rock and experimental which, together with song and spoken word, elicit in me a feeling beyond merely "bittersweet". Perhaps in part due to the circumstances of its release, for me the album captures a sense of grief and pain on one hand, countered by a luminous transcendence and acceptance of mortality on the other. Yet, we are transported to a realm where these seemingly conflicting feelings become profoundly harmonious.
The closing track "Shanti (For Keith)", a guttural, primal expression of the spirit, would have been the last track to come out on Optimo Music. To bring the label to a close this way would have been the perfect epitaph. Alas, it was not to be. Instead, having been given the honour by Optimo's Jonnie Wilkes of playing some music at Keith's memorial on 30th October 2025, I played the piece as though it were his final call to all those whose lives he changed and impacted for the better.
Now with pride, sadness, honour and, hopefully, Keith’s blessing, I present the music to you.
Love is the message, GKMx