KastningSiegfried

New England based guitarists Kevin Kastning and (the enigmatically credited) Siegfried have to be admired for their uncompromising artistic vision.

The 20 uneasy and haunted compositions presented over the course of just over 70 minutes may well be for many listeners an inaccessible confusion of unrelated phrases and misplaced virtuosity. However, scrape the surface, persevere and you will find... something.

Wordless, and perhaps easily misunderstood as a result, KastningSiegfried want your attention and without doubt deserve it. The premise is clearly printed in the sleeve: ‘Each listener might become our collaborator, performing their unique translation from the abstract to the concrete and personal'

To this ends Scalar Fields is an amazing and absolute exercise in communication. And therein is the challenge – through experience alone, to understand or grasp an understanding of something intangible. The utter antithesis of the postmodern supposition that everything has to be comprehended before you experience it. Not an Abba sample in earshot, sweet relief!

Sparse (two guitars, whether 6-string, fretless, baritone or otherwise, and nothing else) eerie, abstract music, recorded late at night in New England, Scalar Fields, casts even darker shadows than its jaggedly linear predecessor, Bichromial. The gentle, sadness of ‘Microlibrium 5' is worth every penny on its own, but as a whole, this is a record that some people will love, and everyone will at least have a ‘considered' opinion about.