Radian & Howe Gelb: Radian Verses Howe Gelb

Quite how this collaboration between experimental trio Radian and Giant Sand frontman Howe Gelb came about is anyone’s guess, but it turns out that Austria meets Arizona ain’t such a great pairing.

This collection’s motivation seems to be to unsettle the listener, but while the omnipresent crackle of white noise, avant garde beats and spoken word passages are certainly disconcerting, much of it is also unlistenable.

Gelb is given scant opportunity to actually sing, except for when he turns in a grizzled Tom Waits-like cover of Moon River. Elsewhere, the deconstructed nature of The Constant Pitch and Sway is frustrating and From Birth to Mortician's climax is difficult to endure.

The snatches of voice and cohesive sound are very deliberately positioned, but this album is simply too chaotic to absorb.

[ Radian.at  ]