Listen, above, no background information available at all about the release annoyingly, the story so far... well four years ago the very fine Being Human came along which amounted to the quartet’s debut. Bates impressed most back then. And the good news is he is pretty darn good again, shucks, on the upcoming album too, again to be released by the Babel label. His role is much more integrated now so that makes the band even more convincing. Go to the wayward dirge-like stagger of ‘Lennard Road’ where he comes into his own for a slice of the best Bates bits. Hawkins is more brooding possibly than ever and certainly Humanly before. Listen to his haunting introduction on ‘My Imaginary Friend’, the fragile trumpet line of Bonney following and Davis’ aesthetic use of small bells imbuing the track with a heartrending atmosphere.
It isn’t all stark. Hawkins, lightening up, introduces a touch of son somehow constructed and deconstructed on ‘Circle Knots’. The band thrive on an unofficial uncertainty principle meaning that they are not afraid to ask musical questions and leave them unanswered, delving along the way into unsaid emotions rendered abstract. This track expresses that well. No safety net is provided and no it isn’t just a play-anything-anyhow jam, something you often hear alarmingly bandied about when free improv is being dismissed. These guys are all masters of improvisation and/or spontaneous composition. (Is composition less valid if it is done in real time?)
1. IMPOSTER 06:45
2. MY IMAGINARY FRIEND 07:17
3. BLENHEIM ROAD 01:22
4. CIRCLE KNOTS 03:48
5. LENNARD ROAD 01:11
6. HOUSE OF SEEDS 03:28
7. WRONG CAR 05:57
8. PRINCETOWN ROAD 01:26
9. TAK-HETI-SWAMP 05:09
10. WELLINGTON STREET 01:35
