Tinkertoy - Electric Wilderness

Anyone thinking about releasing an album desinged to evoke a mood should have a listen to this first to hear how to get it right. The title cut sets the mood with Asian woodwind sounds entwined with what sounds like an entire marsh's worth of nature. This prologue segues less than three minutes later into the dark, pulsing rhythms of "Fifty-Two Incorporated," clicking and rattling along like some madly pumping handcar from the netherworld, descending finally into unsettling chimes. Next up is "Bassalin," another brooding piece that might stand as a warning to keep clear of a woodland path once's the sun's gone down. That worn bit of earth between gnarled branches and mossy roots might lead to a naked, windswept hilltop, the setting for "The Outdoor Silence," a track that belies its name with drawn out mournful chords and metallic echoes that traverse the skull from one ear to the other. Next, there's a bit of bounce to "Editing Our Connection," the longest song on the disc at just over eight minutes, perfect for driving through the earliest part of the dawn before the sun actually rises.