Vocabulary

From Seattle, another all-instrumental trio a la Tristeza. If it's all about textures (the electronic kind), than the cloth is seamless, ridgeless, colorless felt. The overall lack of central melody / dynamics / variety makes this nothing more than a tedious exercise in synth-tone noodling. The idea is to create improvisational jazz atop super-clean production (by PNW indie guru Phil Ek no less), and though there's a framework underneath, it does little more than repeat, repeat, repeat itself. I liken it to the fading light in your retinas after the flash-bulb pop, the muzik resonates in your mind with the annoying echo of bell-like keyboards -- and that's all you'll remember after your first listen… or fourth.

back to   Posted July 14, 2003. Copyright © 2003 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.