
'All Construction' opens the album with the same odd and unusual instrument treatment as 'Involves' ended. On one hand you can easily place this among your experimental ambient collection but to be really correct, you should also add a copy of 'Color In The Zoo' to your jazz collection, your post rock collection, your kraut, experimental, drone, noise and avant garde collections. That's a whole bunch of albums to purchase and categorize.
Then again, I think Karen Willems doesn't care about categorizations. She just wants to explore, although sometimes 'She Needs Air'. In a way, there is plenty of air, plenty of breathing space to be found here. Most of the music is calm but restless, soothing but captivating. 'Wonderwiel' is such a strange and almost contradictory tune, something between jazz and whatever it is that To Rococo Rot or Tortoise make.
On the other hand, 'To Louis Hardin' carries something bombastic, something cinematic and definitely something weird. By now, I'm starting to realize that is more than one step further into experimentation-addiction than the previous album. Frank Zappa would be proud of Karen Willems. He'd probably ask her to record another ninety albums or so. Personally, I wouldn't mind, especially if some of them drone as nice as 'Faith' does.
So, this leaves me with an important question: who to recommend this album to? Well, I guess there are plenty of people out there who like the out-of-the-ordinary, the strange and the bizarre. I think that also covers a majority of the Merchants Of Air readers. If you want something special, this surely is a must-have. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to dance to the energetic 'In Paradiso' for a while.
Serge