All the Pretty Little Horses by Current 93

All the Pretty Little Horses (TheInmostLightItself) is an album by English band Current 93. It forms the second part of the Inmost Light trilogy; the first being 1995's Where the Long Shadows Fall (Beforetheinmostlight) and the last being 1996's The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Theinmostlightthirdandfinal). Unlike its bookends, All the Pretty Little Horses is a full-length album. Like the earlier Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre, All the Pretty Little Horses contains several songs based on repeating melodic themes. Lyrically, the album revolves around the ideas of pain and death, specifically as reflected in Patripassianist philosophy, along with the overarching concept of the "inmost light", or soul. In contrast, the music itself is some of Current 93's most traditional, relying heavily on acoustic guitar. Exceptions appear in the form of two spoken-word tracks: the ominous, drone-based round "Twilight Twilight Nihil Nihil", and "Patripassian", backed mainly by a heavily treated loop of Carlo Gesualdo's Miserere. The album opens with "The Long Shadow Falls", a conceptual link and recap of the previous EP, Where the Long Shadows Fall. In this version, John Balance's improvised phrase, "Why can't we all just walk away," is clearly heard instead of nearly inaudible. A hidden track of Thomas Ligotti reading from his story Les Fleurs appears at the end of the album. Originally available on compact disc and vinyl, the album was reissued as part of the boxed set The Inmost Light in 2007.