TransAtlantic Collaboration

Album Review

The result of five years of collaborating on tapes through the mail, Transatlantic Collaboration is produced seamlessly enough that no one would suspect the two members were working on the project several thousands of miles apart. Much of the CD, particularly the early portion, is ethereal instrumental music treading the line between experimental ambience and new age. The gently ebbing and flowing guitars and loops in particular evoke the work that Brian Eno and Robert Fripp did together, and the results would fit snugly into the radio programs Hearts of Space and Echoes. As the disc progresses, though, some less derivative, darker, and more disquieting melodic ideas and textures slip in, distancing the work some from the new age category. (One of the murkier and more sinister tracks is titled, appropriately, "Garage Gamelan.") That's especially true of the cuts that use synth-poppish drums, though the music's still a long way from pop per se. "East of Ealing" does verge on the peppy in its clashing cymbals, shuffling percussion, and chipper synthetic melodics. Still, the tone is largely meditative, solitary, and relaxing (if sometimes somber), and while not wildly original, has more depth than much ambient music using similar instrumentation.