New York's reclusive No Neck Blues Band joins Munich's veterans Embryofor their first recorded collaboration. The combined group functions asa well-integrated whole, stringing together an album that couldotherwise have been a mere collection of disparate elements, despite the improvisational approach, arrayof instruments, and both Western and non-Western rhythms andtextures.Staubgold
Theopener, "Wieder das erste Mal," sets a tone for the rest ofthe album. Clanging, serpentine rhythms and wordless throat singinginvoke an otherworldly realm while strings, flutes, xylophones, andmany other instruments come in and out of the mix. Nothing sounds outof place and the pace remains forceful without becoming languid despiteits running length of nine and a half minutes. "Die Farbe aus dem All"also jumps from the beginning, the bass and drums propelling the tempoforward while horns chase after them like sirens and metallic scrapeshover alongside the beat. Not until escalating echoed voices becomegoat-like do things die down, with a loud hum bringing up the rear.Songs like "Five Grams of the Widow" and "Zweiter Sommer" provide avalued contrast to some of the heavier tracks. The former is fairlyshort and airy, with horns making effective low-key statements in aflirtation with jazz. The latter starts with delicately plucked stringsbefore hand drums give birth to a shaggy rhythm that becomes a willowysummer anthem.
A couple of the songs sound somewhat incomplete, buteven those hit some fine moments that might otherwise be lost trying toperfect an arrangement. The album never feels as if the group isover-reaching, but rather they do a good job of maximizing each other'sstrengths. This, combined with their sense of dynamics, makes for apowerful debut that will hopefully entice them into futurecollaborations.
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