Tundra

Lakker is a sonic collaboration between Dubliners Dara Smith and Ian McDonnellTheir new album `Tundra' sizzles with both electricity and intelligence. As far asmachine-made music goes this probably comes somewhere close to the top ofthe pile with respect to ingenuity and originality. One problem with this kind ofmaterial, however, is that I'm never wholly sure what I'm required to do with it.I suppose you could try to dance to it ( difficult ); or perhaps play it near yourtomato plants in the hope that the sounds might stimulate growth ( possible );or just maybe ( I hear your raised voices here ) I should just shut up and listen.So, listen to it I have done and at the end of the venture (thrice repeated) I ampleased to report that the experience has been an interesting and enjoyable one.Messrs Smith and McDonnell certainly make a mighty big racket but the ten piecesin this collection have well-defined rhythmic structures, even if they do not containtunes that are easy to whistle (an exception being the introduction to `Three Songs'which comes pretty close in a Psalms-on-Sunday kind-of way) and more than enoughtantalising ideas and dynamic variation to keep us stuck to our chairs for almost an hour.`Halite' is one of the more engaging numbers at our disposal; the beats are solid andthe melodic fragments are such that we emerge with our ears stimulated rather thanburned. `Ton'neru', on the other hand, is a beast of a thing with a far more amorphousand abstract shape which results in it being a tad more difficult to grasp and digest.However I really enjoyed the title track `Tundra' which crackles with barely-suppressed darkenergy and the epic `Mountain Divide' which made my eyeballs roll round in their sockets.File under 'S' for `Serious Listening'.

I'm not going to write a long boring review about this album. However, I've listened to this many times & I really like it.Quality electronica, simple.