SEEK OPPOSITES

This unique band isn't the kind of dissonant avantgarde rock that one might find in the rest of the genre. Instead, EARDANCE has answers to questions like how would KING CRIMSON sound in the 80's if it incorporated jazz, or what if TALKING HEADS tried doing something like Zeuhl.

The more accessible side of the record is in songs like 'Pawn Shop' and 'Jaded' which under some stretch of imagination wouldn't sound that bad on 'Three Of A Perfect Pair' where the leader of the band Jim JACOBSEN sounds very much like BELEW (guitars tend to sound like BELEW too, actually). 'Movers And Shakers' with it's fast percussion lifted from world music first reminded me of the electronic album that ENO and BYRNE made, but then it came to me that the song is to EARDANCE what 'The Great Curve' was to TALKING HEADS, which also had interesting layering of repetitive vocals, and that's why the song shines in the choruses after the build up.

If you're like me you might have listened to something like KC's 'Beat' more often than 'Red' even though you didn't think very highly of it. If so then you will enjoy this part of the album EARDANCE's album, and pieces that are more jazzy will maybe either interest you enough to give it 4 stars like me, or steer you further away. Jazzy songs are mostly led by piano with bass, and are a bit stripped down from all the diverse sounds you used to hear in the previous songs. 'Russian Dragon' is an example of a song which I wouldn't find that odd to find in Zeuhl with it's dark catchy bass line, which goes away into something like free jazz of guitars, pianos, xylophones and the like. 'Words Gone By' is in this kind of vein as well, and again, comparison with the 'Three Of A Perfect Pair' but this time the latter experimental side of the album, combined with jazzy piano might give you a good idea of what this sounds like. Throw in BELEW who sings in Gregorian-like chants in there too.

To sum it up, a mixed album with a lot of recognizable styles, 80's KING CRIMSON, TALKING HEADS or even some PETER GABRIEL with some experiments into territories like jazz that you wouldn't hear a lot from these artist's in those times, and I found more than half of the album a great listen.