You can never quite tell what Tim Burgess is going to do next. Having conquered the indie realm with The Charlatans, his first solo album back in 2003 was a collection of sweet little country ditties in thrall to Gram Parsons.
His latest endeavour sees him working with US experimental composer Peter Gordon (Arthur Russell, Laurie Anderson) but their collaboration is a muddled, disjointed affair.
Gordon’s concoction of synth and korg-d experimental pop, with jazzy brass noodling, is perhaps too similar to Burgess’s meandering vocal style and without someone to keep things ordered, songs such as the 12- minute-long Temperature High and Ocean Terminus are repetitive and bloated, rather than engaging or challenging.
Overall, a bit of a pretentious mess.
