| One Final Note Review I had to hear this just on the title alone. There are titles that sing, some that simply name, and others of the boring bar code variety. This one, The Universe of Absence, is evocative in the best sense, a real poke in the inner eye. Below the title is at least one name that could follow through, make good on that title’s promise, one Gary Lucas, guitarist in end stage Captain Beefheart. The man has credentials and history. Here he makes good with various guitars, electronics (his “black boxes”), and vocals. His companion on the trip is Jozef van Wissem, who makes noise on the lute. This is the second album for the duo.
The album begins, strangely enough, on the back porch. A throwback to their first session, this is a Delta bluesy beginning and the instruments mesh naturally. No small feat as, if you remember, the second instrument’s a lute! Things continue in a similar sonic vein on the next track. This time a back porch take on a Jackson Browne song made notorious by Nico. Lucas goes vocal on this one while the instrumental backing makes a handful of Nicoisms.
The record slowly takes a u-turn into decidedly psychedelic territory. It’s gradual, with the country blues in the fore on a track or two. However, by track six, the title track, it’s in full fling. For me, this is where the album takes off. Using electronics and guitar effects, a whole atmosphere of otherworldliness is opened. Spacey, creepy, the soundtrack for mushroom-fueled inner exploration or whatever you want it called, it’s a head-opening affair. Starts off ambient, then grows trippier and made more uncanny by echoey dissonance.
At times the guitar, I assume, mimics some sort of siren’s voice. Long enough to let things develop and, maybe best of all, allows elements of the acoustic strumming that came before to resurface, keeping a coherent thread throughout. The psychedelic trip continues with no small variance (the next track makes acoustic noise) until the album ends. It closes with a reduced and fractured cover of The Beatles song “Tomorrow Never Knows”, with Lucas once again doubling on vocals. Fitting, somehow.
One strange trip, from beginning to end. Overall, a bit of a head scratcher. I suspect that was the point. My head yearned for more of the psychedelic stuff. A whole album of that, I could see myself lost in. Lucas seemed to dominate proceedings, but that could be a misconception fueled by lute ignorance. All in all, an interesting foray into linked diversity, done right by master musicians and disciples of their craft. |