Jasper TX - In a Cool Monsoon (Pumpkin Seeds in the Sand, 2007)

1		Still A Tiny Light? (1:24)
2		Bending Spoons (6:44)
3		Summer (6:00)
4		I Will Be Birds When I Die (8:58)
5		Waking Up (11:55)
6		And Still A Tiny Light (7:26)
7		Falling From The Sky Like A Flock Of Burning Birds (11:39)

A serious contender for his best album so far, Jasper TX's In A Cool Monsoon is possibly his most varied and accessible work to date, appropriating a more pop-oriented sound than on prior outings. There's a heightened attention to song structure on this album, with Dag Rosenqvist's multi-instrumental sound tapestries more clearly defined, penetrating the electronic mist. The Fennesz /Tim Hecker comparisons are still there to be made, and 'Still A Tiny Light?' certainly invites that, but pieces like the beautiful 'Bending Spoons' demonstrate that Rosenqvist has outgrown merely being a sum of his influences. Scrappy drums back up reverberating melodica lines while guitars plot out an atmospheric tension, it's not quite post-rock, but nor is it discernibly electronica. The organic drones and haunting chord sequences of 'Summer' are similarly charged with a sense of mod and location, functioning as an acoustic counterpart to the elegiac digital resonance of 'I Will Be Birds When I Die', which takes its shape from swathes of shimmering synthesizer and muddy field recordings. At around twelve minutes 'Waking Up' is the longest piece here, and perhaps as a result of this, one of the weaker contributions. No major damage is done, but the key to much of the album's success is in its focus and clarity, but in this instance you get the sense that Rosenqvist is placing too great an emphasis on the repetition of a floating tremolo guitar motif which isn't necessarily enough of a foundation for such a lengthy piece. Far, far more successful is the gorgeous 'And Still A Tiny Light', a delightful tangle of noise, glacial melodies and understated glockenspiel melodies - it's the kind of thing you'd expect to hear as an instrumental interlude on a Sigur Ros album. As a follow-up, and grand finale, 'Falling From The Sky Like A Flock Of Burning Birds' makes for a wonderful, extended coda. After a deep grey, nebulous beginning, shards of sonorous sparkle effervesce from the mix in the form of tiny glockenspiel gestures, only for the piece to suddenly accumulate a more direct sense of momentum and purpose by a final few moments of escalating guitar phrases. Excellent.

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