HERD OF INSTINCT

Herd of Instinct is a stunning, stunning album. It is pulsating and rich, like an unstoppable stream at some places, but very vulnerable and delicate at others. It is not really instrumental, but has an instrumental feel to it in that the voices are mainly used as instruments and building blocks of the overall atmosphere. Given that this is Harris and Webb from Talk Talk, some similarities are not surprising. The production and sound again focuses on bringing out the lively, natural, "breathing" character of the instruments and voices. Harris's drums are straight and direct (although heavy added percussion makes the rhythm much more complex at times) and again many guest musicians contribute to the overall picture, filling it up to the rim with diverse sounds, some calm, some noisy, some funny.

The songs are never driven by conventional melodies. Usually the rhythm takes the command, supported by some melodic riffs and phrases, in many cases with some strong dynamic leading from a rather "tentative" beginning to a veritable storm that takes everything with it; then there are also some more avant-gardish sound experiments that work very well in my view. Influences of Can's rhythmic improvisations and Holger Czukay's sound creations are obvious. If you like this kind of rhythmic, atmospheric stream, this is for you, and in this "genre" it's exceptionally rich and dynamic.