THE HUMMER

Another musique concrète from Devin Townsend. Like its predecessor, ''Devlab'', ''Hummer'' is an ambient album. There are differences between the two though. ''Devlab'' could be described as more of a dark ambient piece, and just plain weird. It is one long continuous piece broken into 15 untitled tracks and will keep you awake (not in a good way). ''Hummer'' though, is a calm drone-ish work. It's very quiet (you'll need good headphones here, and lots of quiet in your surrounding environment) and introspective. There are six tracks that seamlessly segue into the next, and actually have titles this time around. The title track sets the mood for the album, featuring hums that rise and sink in volume in a soothing fashion. ''Arc'' is a bit overlong, beginning with Morse Code and the same hums as before. ''Consciousness Causes Collapse'' features a flute and a soundclip of a reading from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. ''Equation'' is the most audible track here and the shortest, featuring more voices. ''The Abacus'' and ''Cosmic Surf'' are the same; the former featuring some sort of chime; the latter featuring ocean noises.

You have to be in the right mood to listen to one of these tracks, let alone the whole album. It's basically music (or sound) to fall asleep to. It does get a bit boring, but can be rewarding to listen to all the way through, if you can stay awake.