Some albums grab the listener by the throat, slap them around the chops and strike powerful blows immediately. Sone Institute's 'Curious Memories' isn't one of them. That isn't to say it's an entirely subtle affair, or doesn't draw the attention. It's more a case of this album being so out-there and so eclectic, one's initial reaction is somewhere between bemusement and bewilderment, and it takes a few listens for the multi-faceted, many-layered pieces to unravel themselves and the true genius of this set to be appreciated.
Where to begin? From the outset, and the whappily-titled 'Inter Asylum Cross Country,' 'Curious Memories' is the aural embodiment of postmodern hybridity. 'The Wind began to switch' steers the listener on a crazy ride without brakes - wigged-out horns and 70s cop show wocka-chocca wah-wah guitars shot though with melodramatic big-band orchestral strikes lead the listener into the territory in which Jim Thirlwell and Mike Patton are to be found propagating their works of off-the-wall genius.
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It's backwards synths, crickets and whistles that combine to forge the strange, sample-laden soundscape of 'Dark Forest - Silver Sea', while 'Hobbyhorse' is a cracking example of dark electronica: fear chords and eerie samples nailed to a beat that's by turns energetic and glitchy.
If you're looking for a stable identity, give up straight away. Sone Institute isn't so much split personality, but a whole host of guises, a veritable crowd of musos jamming in the skull of just the one man, Roman Bezdyk. As he veers between twisted muzak and haunted country, punctuated by swathes of ambient sound and enormous cymbal and gong crashes, nothing seems out of place, although the whole experience is wonderfully surreal. 'Curious Memories' is a voyage of discovery. Enjoy the ride.
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