A mere 14 years after
Warm and Cool
(the same period of time that separated the last two
Television
albums),
Tom Verlaine
has come up with a follow-up called
Around
. Once again, it's a collection of late-night instrumentals that are generally more about conjuring a mood or feeling than telling a wordless story. The songs themselves fall into three basic groups: tunes where the rhythm section finds a nice groove for
Verlaine
to play over (
"Rain, Sidewalk,"
"Balcony"
), solo pieces where
plays with the focus of an
Indian classical
musician performing an alap (
"Flame,"
"The O of Adore"
), and pieces that just meander, like an idea searching for a song (
"Brief Description,"
"A Burned Letter"
). The songs where the rhythm section locks in are all great, from the simple, pretty
"Eighty Eights"
to the bouncy
"Wheel Broke."
The wonderful
"Meteor Beach"
almost has an African
highlife
groove with Hawaiian-sounding slide and wah-wah guitar.
is quite beautiful, relaxing, and sublime, while "Brief Description" is somewhat clattering. The problem is that these three different types of pieces don't necessarily sit well together, so it's a somewhat disjointed listening experience as you move from light, fun tracks to introspective beauty to Sturm und Drang. There can be no denying that
is one of
rock
's great and indiosyncratic guitar players and there's certainly some of that to be found in
, but the drastic mood shifts from track to track can be disorienting. However, in the digital age, deft CD programming can turn this into a more coherent listen.
is a bit spotty but when it works, it really works well. And when a guy who's hit the creative highs that
has in his career drops his first new material in more than a decade, it's definitely worth paying attention. ~ Sean Westergaard