Unicorn "Playing With Light" CD
[Housepig]
This curious experimental outfit comes from the hands of WT Nelson, perhaps better known for his work with Bastard Noise and Sleestak, but those connections shouldn't be ones that bring along any expectations of the sound.  For instance, the title track starts things off with a very chilled out and hypnotic approach that combines ambient textures with a simple and repetitious little melody, but "Clay and Fire" follows with a darker edge that contains some spoken samples over more ominous low-end drones.  It's amazing to realize how a simple sample can really take on a different personality when it's set to this kind of borderline depressing soundscape, as it really puts a different context to the content of the words and shows that there's actually some thought going into this material, which is excellent.  The 10-minute "Spots" is the only track that I don't enjoy, as the musical elements in this piece are actually irritating, simply because I don't care for the sparse melody at all.  I'm quite intrigued by the machinated whirrs going on in the background, but the musical notes sound like a less than accomplished keyboard player searching for the right note and really disrupt the atmosphere a great deal, to my dismay.  "The Sea" is brief but does indeed ebb and flow with what sound like guitar drones and volume swells that have been abstracted enough to sound interesting and not immediately recognizable as such.  "Maho Kyoto" then brings back the more somber approach and reaches nearly seven minutes with a collection of foreboding textures and layers that shift gradually over time, bringing in a little hint at harsher pulses against the cascading ambient backbone, which persists as the aggressive distortion starts to attack more and more and increase in volume and bite towards the close of the piece.  "Rain (But Not Candy)" is a mere 46 seconds that is indeed a field recording of rain; while "Far Away; Close to You" is somewhat similar to "Spots" in its use of musical notes, but the more succinct pattern and cleaner repetition is far more effective and lulling.  I love the absolutely massive bass tones as well, which really add to the atmosphere along with the distant fits of harsher electronics that are barely audible in the background.  This is by far the most emotional sounding piece, and certainly among my favorites herein.  The disc is housed in a plastic sleeve with a nice insert printed in a fade of dark blue to deep maroon inks over faint pink paper with a matte finish.  Minimal artwork is included but it looks very nice, and I admire the hints at meaning included in the booklet for each track title as well.  The CD-Rom portion of the disc contains three short films by Stephanie Miller, all of which contain soundtracks performed by Unicorn (the three songs on the audio portion of the disc whose names correspond to the films, obviously).  "Bob Lawrence: Clay and Fire" and "The Sea" are in black and white (with minimal toning) and I find them to be very aesthetically interesting, though honestly I think the color film, "Playing With Light", is very dull and boring by comparison.  There are around 12 minutes of videos in addition to the audio component of the disc, so there's a lot of content, and each artist (Unicorn and Stephanie Miller) only falters once in my opinion.  Regardless of said minimal blemishes, this is a very nice release and I'd love to hear more from Unicorn.  The strengths exhibited in a few of these tracks point to a wealth of potential that could truly blow me away in the future. (7/10)
Running time - 37:45, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Clay and Fire, Maho Kyoto, Far Away; Close to You]
Housepig Records - http://www.housepig.com

This review has been displayed 2898 times.