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Barnes and Noble
Alternate Forms
Current price: $27.99
Barnes and Noble
Alternate Forms
Current price: $27.99
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In honor of the tenth anniversary of their breakthrough album
,
present
, a track-by-track reworking involving a host of featured collaborators. While the guests here are typically fellow risk-takers to begin with, something that becomes clear early in the track list is how inventive the original stems still sound, with the album's haunting, otherworldly weirdness inspiring, in many cases, a thrilling level of audacity. Opener and lead single "Alternate World (Alternate Life)," featuring former (
) labelmate
, combines artfulness and reverence in a sweeping, sparkling orchestral rendition. Its rumbling tremolos, twinkling concert bells, unidentifiable fairyland timbres, and rock elements work together to maintain the original's cautionary tone while adding a bittersweet quality all
's own. That track sets the stage for at least most of the rest, with
and
(
) dialing up the urgency and android semblance on
' "Ransom (All Innocence)." The
-
redo of the hyper "No Crimes" delivers further concentrated, chaotic rhythms and percussive textures spanning hisses, metallic ball sounds, treated cymbals, rattling snares, and booming bass drums alongside heavily edited vocals by bandleader
and others. An almost psychedelic reworking, it occasionally parts the waters for quieter segments of jazzy bass, treated piano, and warm sax. Elsewhere, things get funky on the club-oriented "Plan the Escape (Sirens and Tremors)" featuring
, but the biggest departure from the rest is a spooky cabaret version of signature song "Easy" with pianist
and South African jazz vocalist
. Patient and just the right amount of unhinged, it gives new emphasis to lyrics like "You break the bridle to make losing control easy" and "Crushed what you're holding so you can say that letting go was easy." The album closes with the
-led epilogue "Lanterns Lit (Singing Light)," which tones down the operatic tendencies of the original while emphasizing the unmistakable loping, downbeat-evading drumming of
(who first joined
on tours in support of
) and the hushed, spacy electronics of featured artist
.
will sound nothing short of inspired for audiences unfamiliar with the original album, although
fans may find that the uniqueness of each core song still overshadows even aggressive tinkering, ultimately resulting in something that's less
2.0 and more a tribute album -- if an impressive, unconventional one. ~ Marcy Donelson