BONE SCRIPT

1. "Bone Script" (9:11) bursting out with a theatric confidence that reminds me even more of superlative Philadelphia band, iNFiNiEN because of its sophisticated jazz-tinged constructs, but even more so due to their now female- dominated vocal corps. Also, the prominent sax feels new but fitting. (18/20)

2. "Glyphs "(7:15) one of the band's quirky staccato stop-and-start rondos over which the vocalists sing ever-so- smoothly. I'm reminded here of both Bay Area Canterbury jazzists, INNER EAR BRIGADE, and psych-R&B/funk sensation SAY SHE SHE. Then in the second minute the music takes a turn: toward something more quirky and perhaps akin to the music of ULTRAPHAUNA or Markus Pajakkala's UTIOPIANISTI (with kind-of-operatic female vocals). At 4:40 we are again transported into another genre of music, this one being 1960s bossa nova, but only briefly, as a bridge, into a heavier passage with pulsing bass, guitar, and sax lines presenting a kind of jazzy R&B. This is so like Strasbourgeois band OIAPOK! Cool! (13.5/15)

3. "Wind-Up Bird" (6:55) Now the Zeulish strains I was sensing beneath the music in the previous two songs comes to the fore--but only for the opening, then it moves toward a CAMEMBERT-, SETNA-, or even NOT A GOOD SIGN-like: quirky, heavy, using some avant-garde stylistic approaches. This is AltrOck Productions/Fading Records music! And, let me tell you: I really appreciate the band's condescension in using modern sound engineering techniques on their instruments this time around: instead of sounding like a garage band (performing in the garage) they sound much more professional (I say this even as I listen to Mathew Rakers' extended Ray Manzarek/"Light My Fire"-like organ solo in the sixth minute). Based on the presentation of this song, I have a feeling that the band is familiar with the work of Michal Urbaniak and Urszula Dudziak, which is awesome. (14.25/15)

4. "Malakas" (4:22) a jazz tune very close to the kind INNER EAR BRIGADE has been doing for the past decade (though maybe not quite as Canterbury-leaning). (8.75/10) 5. "Mirage" (4:28) another multi-tiered stop-and-start staccato music construct with the wordless female vocalists sounding more like Middle Eastern desert singers. (8.875/10)

Total Time 32:11

Though I still have some issues with the band's sound presentation choices (engineering), I have only commendations and praise for both their conceptual/compositional skills and musicianship.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of quirky avant-prog. A step up in production value from the previous album but a disappointing 32-minutes in length!

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