Memory Tree

Mike Shannon's Memory Tree is an album so well sculpted and presented that it's near impossible to talk about -- it's a fine electronic pleasure that is both reflective and energetic, the product of any number of years spent with not only straight-up techno but, increasingly, the moodier variants of that which the post-Kid A universe has allowed to thrive as any number of downbeat singer/songwriters use Thom Yorke as a model. This overstates the sound of Memory Tree, it has to be said, but the sense of deeper emotions at play in the loungey keyboard calm and kick of "Beyond Incubation" and other songs like it on the album shows a sense of understatement more suggestive of lonely bedrooms than shadowy club corners. This said, there are plenty of equally uptempo songs as well, with the aggressive squelch of "Wolf Module" and the metallic keyboard break on "The Love Fry" being two moments of many. If not deathless, nonetheless a fine listen for those so inclined to the sound. ~ Ned Raggett