IN THE L..L..LIBRARY LOFT

I like to think of myself as open minded when it comes to music. I will willingly listen to any style in an effort to find something about it which appeals to me, and more often than not that effort is rewarded. That does not mean that I like everything I hear, far from it, but there is usually merit to be found if you look hard enough.

Try as I may, I cannot hear anything on this album remotely musical or enjoyable. It is akin to listening to a tumble dryer, literally.

Toby Driver is the driving force behind Kayo Dot. While their music may at times offer a significant degree of challenge, when compared to this his first solo album they are comparable with the Beach Boys. For the first so many minutes, it is hard to even tell that the album has started. The faint monotone may actually be indecipherable on stereo systems of a certain quality, as the inherent hum they produce will be much more obvious than the "music". The sound does eventually build to something audible of course, but in the form of an incoherent, formless jumble. Likewise, "Brown light upon us" takes 18 minutes to deliver absolutely nothing but a totally innocuous hum. Honestly there is more variety in the sound of a vacuum cleaner! In all there are four tracks, all of a similar nature, although the actual noises are different on each.

Now I realise that there is perhaps as much of an art to listening to music such as this as there is to making it. That I believe is where the crux of the matter lies. This is not music at all, it is art. It is abstract soundscapes which will appeal to the enlightened few. To the rest such as myself, it is dull, tedious, and utterly boring.

At the time of writing, the album is available for free download via Toby Driver's website.

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