Wilderness – (k)no(w)here

When Wilderness, an art-rock four-piece band from Baltimore, were invited to write a piece of music for visual artist Charles Long at his exhibition at the Whitney Biennial in March this year, (k)no(w)here was the result. Recorded with Pete Lyman in Los Angeles, the 40 minute composition is broken up into 8 parts but it flows seamlessly, so much so even after several listens I lost track of where some songs started and where others began.The music is incredibly sparse and efficient, with comparisons made with Joy Division, U2 and PiL, you can hear every instrument and every detail. Singer James Johnson's wail is virtually incomprehensibly on opener 'High Nero' but that doesn't stop his voice from complementing the guitar of Colin McCann, which is graceful at times. This fades into the driving rhythm of 'Strand the Test of Time' and as Johnson howls intently that a new law is coming, McCann is just warming up letting the drums do the work, before taking centre stage and stealing the show. McCann's guitar work is wonderfully understated on this album, rarely breaking into a sweat, but doing more than enough for the listener to get lost in it all.On 'Own Anything' after a slow minute long build up the song bursts into life with furiously pounded drums and immense passion emitting from Johnson's voice. It's the shortest track on the album, but it does enough in under three minutes (under two if you take away the intro) to give the (k)no(w)here a second wind and leads nicely into a highlight, 'Chinese Whisperers'.This is the third album by Wilderness and it is one that is designed to be listened to from start to finish. That may sound like an obvious thing to say but there should be no shuffling or downloading of just the one or two tracks with this one, as all flow and context would be lost in an instant. It does require a degree of patience as some may get irritated by the 'samey' nature of some tracks and although it was created to suit Charles Long's artistic vision, (k)no(w)here stands perfectly well on its own. 74%Wilderness on MySpace