Sensitive Chaos CD Reviewed By Hypnagogue
John Shanahan, May 2007 Hypnagogue Ambient Music News & Reviews:
I like being pleasantly surprised by the music I receive to review. Often that surprise comes because the music belies the presentation. That is to say, the packaging, which is part of the overall experience of any CD, doesn’t raise my hopes for what’s inside. Without meaning to be insulting, I have to say that this was true of Sensitive Chaos’ new CD, Leak. The cover logo, at first glance, looks like it was roughed out on an Etch-A-Sketch quickly. So when I reluctantly loaded the disk hoping for the best, the effect of the music was, to pun, amplified, and in a very good way.
On Leak Jim Combs delivers a package of equal parts funk, world beats and jazz influences wrapped around a solid electronic core. The title track plods in, quaintly uncertain aboard an ungainly rhythm that slowly gains support from a quiet melody rising beneath it. These meld and smooth; shuffling percussion eases in; and then, from a distance comes Brian Good’s flowing saxophone line, elevating the piece to a feel reminiscent of Shadowfax. It does take the track six minutes to get to this point, but listening to it is like watching a building go up in time lapse. And once it’s there, it’s elegant.
The ride continues with “Android Cat Dreams of Mice,” a nice fusion of jazz and hypnosis that gets a lift from a thick, funk-inspired bass line. Good comes back on “Starry Night,” which is as close to a straight-up jazz tune as you get on Leak. It’s a sweet listen, gliding along on that sax and a bouncing beat backed with hiccuppy electronic augmentation. A distorted computer voice welcomes listeners to the upbeat, lilting track, “Painting Earthtones in Orbit.” The voice returns at the end of “Nightshift at the Baby Mecha Nursery,” a fun piece working from a tinkling melody upward into a nicely interwoven construct that subsequently unwinds itself back toward simplicity. (Whereupon we get the voice again, speaking as if to one of the robot babies, a very nice touch).
Each track is fairly long, giving Combs ample time to fully explore his ideas and possibilities. And he spends the time wisely. Leak is a very pleasant surprise and will definitely garner repeat listens.