Nurse With Wound & Larsen

Created from two years of file swapping between Steve Stapleton's long-running project and the shadowy quartet from Italy, this melting pot is an enigma, and a resounding success. The first three tracks assemble layers of wine glasses, synth samples, martial drums and a slew of other elements that mature from seeds of ideas into full efflorescence. "Easin' By" is a low, slow moving grey cloud of decidedly uneasy ambience that passes overhead with echoes of trumpet and static. Lengthy closer "Tickety Boo" shifts gears yet again, letting a Mick Karn-y bass line and hand drum rhythm drive the narrative, with occasional interference from disembodied laughs and moans, wildlife noises, etc. Eberhard Kranemann (aka Fritz Müller of Neu! and Kraftwerk) provides the compositional framework on "Bug Vaudeville," as well as strings, voice and electronics. What the album lacks in spontaneity and live energy is more than made up for by the elemental strangeness and unexpected buoyancy of the mood.