STILL

According to Carlton, Still focuses on "themes of waiting and immobility," and explores how routine can be both an aid and an impediment to achieving "our true dreams." For me, Still wasn't as successful as Reflex Arc, Carlton's next effort, at getting across an ambitiously specific set of ideas. Nevertheless, it's definitely worth a look.

The overture, "Beyond Surprise," is certainly spectacular. Across its continually varying eight-minute duration, it feels like a midnight burst of creativity after an extended period of apathy. Throughout Still, though, Carlton is more effective at depicting alternatives to "waiting and immobility"--as in "Beyond Surprise" and the rousing "He Runs At Night"--than at depicting those states themselves.

The album's midsection doesn't imply a running "storyline," which was, to me, one Reflex Arc's major joys. Instead, each track takes a different angle on the main theme. At times, the interpretations of routine and stasis are fairly literal, as in the repetitions of "It Never Happened" and the austerity of "True Wilderness II." The stronger tracks seem like laments for lost time and effort. "Epos," which uses blunt keyboard passages to convey a surprisingly indistinct and modern emotion, is particularly good.

Musical conceits like that enliven most of the tracks on Still, so the album's failings, if any, are in the cohesion between tracks; "He Runs At Night" feels triumphant, but it's not too clear what we're triumphing over. However, Still's best moments are definitely worth the ride.