| 2-disc set. Andy Partridge's extensive catalog of finely crafted songs with XTC might make this improvisational trio seem like it's out of the blue, but he's actually been a fearless experimenter for decades. He's created dub versions of his own music (Explode Together), as well as devoting several projects to ambient sounds and atmospheric settings, collaborating with the likes of Peter Blegvad and Harold Budd. In Monstrance, he's partnered with Barry Andrews and Martyn Barker. The former was XTC's original keyboardist, who left and formed Shriekback, in which the latter was the drummer. The unnamed pieces are spread across two beautifully packaged discs and run the gamut from insistent grooves and undulating rhythms to skittering note clusters and slabs of sound sculpture. Starting at the top, one is gently led into these truly in-the-moment creations. Thoughtfully sequenced, the set is structured so that things get more adventurous as it goes along. By the time the 16-minute closing number rolls around, the interplay has become familiar enough that the sound from each instrument can be followed as if they were ripples emanating from stones tossed into a pond, fanning out, intersecting, and then disappearing. --David Greenberger |