Here’s a review from a lastFM friend dx_xb. Worrytrain is the name of an artist called Neil Geissler another fantastic Chicago musician who I knew nothing about until this review got sent to me. Amazingly beautiful stuff. I might go and track me some of this stuff down. Thanks for the review dx_xb.
Fog Dance, My Moth Kingdom is a sophisticated album drenched in melancholy, and punctuated with bouts of paranoia and unease, which is appropriate for an album with song titles like “For Auschwitz” and “White Phosphorus Angels.”
Effective use of leitmotifs makes the album sound cohesive and propels the story forward. The main leitmotifs being: simple piano melodies, dissonant strings, and emotional violin flourishes. The tracks do not necessarily flow into one another, but there is never that “whiplash feeling” you get with some albums.
The first track of the album, Prelude for Piano and Malaria, a simplistic, cautiously played piano melody, evokes a somber, innocence that contrasts nicely with the noisier songs on the album. I can imagine this arrangement playing during a movie on WWII while on the screen bombs go off and villagers run for their lives.
Track 4, Thundertrance Interlude, is by far the noisiest track of the album. Starting with a low hum of instruments and dissonant strings that give way to a wave electronic distortion that would make Masami Akita proud. The low hum of instruments can still be heard, albeit barely, underneath the distortion.
Track 5, Achtung, God, sounds rich and full thanks to strings and a bit of electronic manipulation that give this piece a feeling of urgency. This song somewhat reminds me of something off of Blood Inside by Ulver. Around the 1:35 mark the first, and one of the few, instances of guitars on this album can be heard.
Track 10, Saturniidae, the second noisiest track on the album, starts with a repetitive violin melody which is interrupted by drums and cymbals. After 2 minutes, this gives way to something that reminds me of the Anthony Braxton and Wolf Eyes collaboration. The song ends with organ playing that reminds me of Lustmord.
There is just the right amount of restraint on this album. There’s so many different sounds and styles on the album, that the risk of sounding like an ADD-riddled mess is quite high; yet, Worrytrain has managed to find a balance.
Ducks Battle Satan 