Kwook – Unidentified Feathered Object

Fantastic relatively obscure ambient gem that just drifts along but has enough interesting pieces that command your listening attention . Easily obtained from the label store .

The main problem I have with putting my finger on this album is the structure. It starts out with a reasonably strongly melodic piece, and returns to melody for phases throughout it runs. The problem is that although it’s relatively easy to get a grip on something which is completely structureless, or maintains a similar structure through, but much harder to draw in something which slips between drifting, empty drones to richer melody and back again without much distinction between the different phases. Equally, although it has sinister, science fiction sampled moments, the whole piece lacks a definitive atmosphere—most of it is easy to listen to, with mild tones and phrases.

What does it sound like overall? This is that question I always find hardest to answer, and why I try to steer clear of reviewing things in general! But… quite a soft, pleasant, easy listen, more droney than not, interspersed with a few darker moments. The kind of album where you put it on, listen to the first ten minutes, and then don’t really notice until it’s over.

My recommendation -- again, I’d like to stress that the above isn’t meant as a criticism of the album, but I don’t feel as if I can recommend it strongly. Certainly one that I’m quite happy to have in my collection though!

I just can't get enough of this album - an hour of weird, richly-spun, gossamer ambient tuneage from Australia. This guy makes emotional tracks with generous heaps of melody and wonderful swaying beats. But this is gentle, breezy stuff, as if you could imagine a bombastic Ulrich Schnauss tune drawn on trace paper and then held up to the sun. Though there's not a duff track on here, the two best ones, "Dusk Midnight Dawn" and "Universal Translator", feature bouquets of bright intertwining melodies on top of simple chugga-chugga rhythms. The final track evokes a rapid journey through cold deep space, long sustained notes with mechanical voices and exhalations, shimmers and explosions. Though the individual bits of each track come and go in unsurprising patterns, the atmospheres created are palatable in the extreme - warm, buoyant, kinetic. Popping this disc in, for me, is the musical equivalent of striding into the hyper-detailed, super-colorful universe next door.