Starving Weirdos Brian Pyle and Merrick McKinlay and guests don their wizard robes to invoke unknown realms of existence. Some of the methods may change from song to song, but each has an allure and mystery all its own.
"Summon" is like walking through a vast, majestic hall with its airy pitches, panned rattles, and swooping tones. The only bit of melody comes toward the end, played on an exotic scale. "Orchestra at Twilight" begins more contemplatively with breathy electronic exhalations and roiling mechanical sounds, eventually joined by what could be pterodactyls crying for food. The album's only rhythm comes from hand drums and light percussion on "In Transit," accompanied by a thirsty beehive on the prowl. "Sunset at the College Cove Bluffs" uses subtle washes and forlorn foghorns to give a sense of space, as if opening a tunnel to another plane entirely.
The group is quite effective at making alien worlds seem like normal ones by slowly unfolding various textures throughout the tracks. They've certainly got my attention with this sublime recording.
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