Marvel Of Beauty 2015
From Scratch
A new beginning or massaging the itch? Danish art ensemble embark on an experimental endeavor.
One could argue there’s a creative pattern for this artist whose recorded output numbers almost three dozens of albums, and 2013’s "Evidence" was a testament to Robin Taylor’s firm grip on a prog formula, yet its successor breaks the mold. Now, well-measured chaos is the order of the day, so there’s a quirky improvisation set to a chug in “Interrail” that wheels around a lighthearted female vocal before going off into the wild, while “Beta X” weaves a lunatic laughter in its organ-driven pulse where radio noises lurk. But then Karsten Vogel’s clarinet soars and falls in the mad oscillations and, in such an atmosphere, the heavy “Balcony People” finds a reason to fly, too, as Bøhling’s guitar wails and shoots to the sky.
Far from the edge, opener “Other Meetings” harnesses the band’s deep-cutting groove with a Minimoog flow of a tune, which hints at Ravel in the beginning and in the end, yet it unravels into a fluttering and meandering coil of melodies and lands on a fusion-minded dance floor. But if the short “Laura’s Lullaby” finds elegiac peace in woodwind and piano, “Für Louise” lowers its Beethoven pun and elusive quote to the bottom-end crawling until it starts to rock anxiously and arrestingly to reach the ultimate solemnity which splashes into the transparent six-string ripple of “Autumn River” with not a beat in sight. Looks like a new adventure has just begun.
***4/5
