Each Eye A Path

Karn's fifth keeps things basic, yet thanks to some accomplished technology, complex. After the travelogues of Japan, Latin America, Arabesque and Greek treatments of past works, this is an English album - and very much a solo one (he never works with more than two people on the same track). Each Eye examines both the funky elements of Tooth Mother and simple bass, synth and clarinet notepads of Titles and Dreams of Reason. Up To Nil at first sounds like an out-take from Jean Michel Jarre's Zoolook. Nil has some brilliant lyrics (I must be vile with a girlproof smile) but Karn uses them as a mumble but for its funky hand clap chorus Karn not intentionally sounds Bowiesque while Maya adds some finesse with a simple 'Yeah.' The most memorable pieces are the ones resembling art film soundtracks. Two examples are The Night We Never Met and The Forgotten Puppeteer - a beautiful piece of twinkling keys and clarinet. Among the slow there are a couple of contemporary grooves in Angel's Got A Lotus adding a dash a cool amid drum programming and murmuring bass, and Venus Monkey. Both Latin Mastock and My Mrs T look to the electronics of Hector Zazou and jazzier shades of Ryuichi Sakamoto. The washed out Serves You Rice continues the Oriental iconographies of old. Good for a rainy day, in a good way. ~ Kelvin Hayes|