Golden Retriever

Matt Carlson and Jonathan Sielaff both possess that rare ability to create experimental music that manages to come off as painless and graceful. Turning composite structures and shapeless arrangements into lovely compositions with their respective groups (Parenthetical Girls and Au), the duo attempt to add a bit of grime with their Golden Retriever project. With their second full-length (following a slew of CD-R releases), Occupied with the Unspoken, Carlson and Sielaff craft instrumental pieces using an analogue modular synthesizer and a bass clarinet ― instruments only designed to produce a single note at a time. Despite the self-imposed impediment, Golden Retriever manage to give each performance an explicit direction, taking half-hour-plus compositions and editing them down to a quartet of nine- or ten-minute tracks. Moving solicitously through static-filled peaks and softcore valleys, most of Occupied with the Unspoken works like a well-executed indie film score: evocative, exigent and with purpose.