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The first thing you notice about this album, apart from the nice shiny cover, is that you need to work out how to get the damn thing open (& I'm not giving you any clues!). This is only the first of many surprises that this adventurous yet accessable album from US multi-instrumentalist Monty Singleton, who plays everything here with the exception of drums & chainsaw, has in store for you. For example, titling the opening track 'Sex And Murder' might lead you to believe this is a hard EBM album but its haunting violin & piano combo takes completely the opposite path that makes for a short but bittersweet opener before leading into a jaunty cover of U2's 'God Pt.II', which shows Monty's poppier side with effective guitar riffs & complimentary electronic colouring later being joined by some unexpected industrial motifs that, along with Singleton's assertive voice, makes for an instantly memorable opening. The essentially similar 'Static Space' later benefits from the electronic embellishments that add an almost psychadelic edge to this lively number & it's this mixing of inventive sounds, effects & ideas into essentially accessable, at times poppy music (there's even what sounds like some kazoo in amongst the smooth vocals & contrasting abstract effects of 'The Era Of Voyeurism'!!) that is the album's strongpoint, ensuring it never becomes bland or predictable. In this respect it resurrects the spirit of Devo & their ilk while the more new wave-flavoured tracks such as 'Ice Man', 'Replica' & 'R.I.P.' show a more obvious musical similarity although no one track is representative of the album as a whole. 'The Haves', for example, is an inventive piece of lo-fi electronica while the big band style of 'Nascentes Morimur' could have come from a Broadway musical with some funky brass motifs later on making this ideal for all you groovy cats to really dig! The mood totally changes again as a touchingly reflective mood graces the closing 'October', with it excellent accoustic guitar work, looks set to end the album on a nicely laidback note that ably evokes the feel of autumn until the music fades out leaving the tolling bell & gusting wind to leave us suddenly in the depths of a cruel, merciless winter (although it's probably actually a metaphor for the end of one's life!). It's a totally unexpected way to end but, as you may have gathered by now, the unexpected is what Dimension Zero is all about & while it's not the sort of music I would usually seek out, the constant invention & good old-fashioned songwriting quickly won me over & it's improved with each play ever since so if you're feeling adventurous give this a try, it might just surprise you. |
