The Sybil of the Rhine, Hildegard von Bingen (AD 1098-1179)-- German abbess, composer, visionary, poet, mystic theologian-- is enjoying something of a vogue these days. While some scholars now believe that the blinding illuminations that Hildegard took for beatific visions were merely severe migraines, other scholars have turned Hildegard into the ultimate proto- feminist and have deemed her to be the hippest goddamn thing to come out of 12th century Bingen. And can anyone think of anyone more suitable to muck up the legacy of the one the purest lights of the medieval Catholic Church than damned soul David Lynch? Yes, filmmaker David Lynch mans the boards as producer of Jocelyn Montgomery's tribute to Hildegard and the whole affiar smacks of his unique Satanic alchemy of pretentious obscurantism and heavy- handedness.

But the visionary Hildegard and the angelic Jocelyn Montgomery still shine despite the grim machinations of Lynch. According to legend, Montgomery was discovered by Lynch singing aloud on a walk in the Hollywood Hills as a perfect receptacle for his evil. Lux Vivens ("living light") seems to be Lynch's project, yet Montgomery's stunning soprano and the genius of Hildegard's melodic innovations serve as the album's saving grace. Hildegard composed liturgical plainchant and greatly expanded the melodic range of the music of her times, which had made little progress since the advent of Gregorian chant in the 7th century (which, if you'll recall, enjoyed a short- lived revival in the early years of the decade. Remember the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos' Chant? I'm sure the Pitchfork Best of the Decade list will.)

Montgomery sings the aetherial soprano lines with grace and beauty. Unfortunately, beneath her, where there should be a choir of chanting monks or nuns, there is David Lynch. Lynch douses Montgomery's angelic lines in reverb and fills the tracks with creepy gothic soundscapes and obvious sound effects, lending the album an unmistakable new age quality that curtails the music's spiritual depth by trying too hard to underline it. Windblown tides of synthesizer wash on the shores of every track, robbing the listener of the intimacy with which Montgomery is singing.

It's a pretty sure bet that Lux Vivens will go straight to the new age circle and never escape, and unfortunately, that's probably where it belongs. Not because it's bad but merely because it's unmistakably new age music. But it's a shame because the musical innovations of Hildegard could have found a unique re-application to the contemporary world of electronic ambient music (although Enigma's ubiquitous 1991 hit "Sadeness Part I" probably single- handedly opened and closed the book on that sort of thing). And by the way, if you think there's a conceptual flaw in the idea of David Lynch producing an album of religious music, just remember the old saying: even the Devil can quote Scripture.

-Brent S. Sirota