A SOPHISTICATED FACE

These guys are simply amazing musicians who combine complexity, incredible interplay, dissonance, intensity and creativity to a level that is way over my head. I admit that their "Stringy Rugs" album was too much for me to grasp, but thankfully this one is a little tamer, more towards the Chamber music side of things. It's the kind of music that isn't going to win any awards for being melodic, but what does impress me is just listening. Yes this is one of those albums that is awful to have playing in the background, you have to really listen to it. Lots of horns and percussion on this one.

"One Pair" opens with lots of percussion and horns coming and going. Guitar and marimba take over then the horns and percussion return. "Visceral Ooze" opens with piano and other sounds that come and go. It's kind of dark, in fact UNIVERS ZERO comes to mind. Some tension here. A calm with violin after 2 minutes. Back to the intricate sounds with horns and piano. Nice bass follows as the tempo picks up. A collage of sounds late and some electric guitar. That bass is deep though. "Metrolodic" opens with violin and bass then builds until after a minute when it settles down. Lots of percussion 3 minutes in as sounds pop and ping. Other sounds join in as it builds again. "Rind" is darker with horns, percussion, violin and marimba leading the way.

"Transversal" is the longest track at over 8 minutes. It opens with horns, violin, classical guitar, bass, percussion and other sounds that come and go. Some tension here and amazing interplay. It's eerie with violin before 4 minutes. A calm after 6 minutes before it picks back up late. "Solstice" is fairly slow moving with some dissonance to it. Cello and violin in this one. "Zoot" is more energetic and fun. Lots of horns and vibes bouncing around. Violin and electric guitar too. "OC" is a short tune with violin, cello and acoustic guitar. "Transmotude" is a sax led tune with some electric guitar. "Hogh" is heavier with those drums and bass sounds as horns blast over top. It settles after 2 minutes then kicks in again after 4 minutes. "Empty Neprac" is the 8 minute closer and my favourite. Kind of stripped down here with electric guitar, bass and sax. I like the angular guitar early and the deep bass sounds that follow all the while the sax plays over top. Very cool track.

If you want a challenge check out BLAST. I like this one.