When the released the compendium of their EPs in a single-CD volume -- two had previously been issued on vinyl only, the third was released only as part of the collection -- they found themselves exploring new and varied sonic territory. They moved away from the early schematics that had landed them in a seemingly inescapable sonic furrow. was their strongest recording to date. Hot on its heels, just months later, comes this behemoth of swirling, free-floating, mysterious but it certainly doesn't end there. Elements of Eastern music, improvisational and African polyrythms, soundscapes and layered textures of various "other" instruments such as guest 's harmonica, 's baritone horn, and 's violin add to the free-for-all while the contribute enough of their own strangeness. Skin man and main keyboardist (who worked with as a drummer for a minute and became half of the duo) also plays melodica, guitarist -- who is part of 's band as well -- plays oud, banjo and pedal steel, bassist also plays keys (Rhodes, harpsichord), and guitarist does all the sampling. While the opener begins in a subtle enough way with throbbing bass and deep, hollow sounding drums to go along with variously stringed things, it slides into a rather minor-key slither and drone underscored by a piano playing spare lines as a "melody" though it's all mode. It's dreamy in a rather sinister way, but drifts and moves along nicely, especially as the electric guitars enter, though they never approach din, preferring to allow the drones and melodies speak for themselves until they reach psych mass. By the third of these eight cuts, forms not only underscore the proceedings but inform them directly and are eventually injected with freak-outs that never quite overwhelm their rather loosely attenuated forms. Dynamics, texture and plenty of echo frame these proceedings. Melodies begin to assert themselves from the gloom only to morph into others, even more skeletal. Percussion drops in and leaves unannounced, though because of the employments of very distinctive drones, they never seem out of place and can ratchet up tempo as well as bring it down to a crawl in a very short time. There are so many change sin this piece it feels impossible to document them all. Yet the listener is never overcome by the shifts and maze-like constructs. They all seem to float, dive, dip and rise again almost effortlessly. The rest of this album moves the same way; whether it's in the truly sinister organic breakbeat workout of adorned simply by effects and electric guitars and bass, the acoustic-mass steel orgy that is the space-time anachronistic dub-float meets that is or the turtle walking, creepy crawl bliss of the title track which closes the set. If anything, is a recording that takes on different aspects each time it is played. The are their own frontier now, and have advanced the genre by miles, creating possibility, beauty and atmosphere everywhere they travel, but leaving beautiful ruins in their wake. One of the best bets of 2007 without doubt. ~ Thom Jurek