Head Light

Drummier and with less wind-chime whimsy than their 1994 effort Trance Mission, Head Light insists on a puree of cultural influences that feature the lowest and least mobilized notes attainable on a didge. That this instrument is "played (by Stephen Kent) with respect for the Australian Aborigines in solidarity and...common relationship with the earth," is beyond doubt; although the cacophony of white noise created by the Trance Mission orchestra of click-sticks, clay pots, Solar Winds, log drums, clapping and clarinets can be difficult to be moved by, in spite of so much movement. "Monkfish" and "Their Hands Are Blue" bookend the recording nicely with what sound like echoes of one another within the otherwise various musical text -- but why the whimpery "The Sun Cries" is divided into two indistinguishable parts is one of those quasi-postmodern stumpers. A smug album for an adamant nueva-age wind band. ~ Becky Byrkit