Album Review

Richard Swift – Instruments of Science & Technology

• 11th Feb 2008

For an LP by the great Richard Swift, this sure is a hard sell. Easily capable of out doing Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’ in the pretentious stakes, this monotonous, uneventful and ultimately unsuccessful album holds few redeeming qualities. Before I stray too far from Radiohead, I should mention that the entire LP seems to be based on the exquisite eeriness of ‘OK Computer’s unsung hero ‘Climbing up the Walls’, an unwavering aspect that underscores each and every sound found here.

Fleeting, unrealized moments that resound Art of Noise, Iggy Pop, Verve, Secret Machines and Karl Bartos simply serve as subtle points of hopeful distraction that mount to nothing before they evaporate into the ethereal from whence they came. A potential highlight found in track 6 ‘War/Unwar’ sees a delightfully shamanic tribal rhythm seemingly escalating into oblivion, before it simply disintegrates into nothingness, leaving the ever more wanting listener with only more disappointment to contend with.

Okay, Swift is showing us his versatility and unpredictability, but anyone who went out and paid the going rate for this could be forgiven for showing Swift their fist. Maybe he should’ve sat down with a brew and listened to something of caliber like the Orbs ‘UF Orb’ before venturing into what is obviously a less comfortable realm of ambience.