TENKI
We're Not Talking About The Universe, Are We (#1)
[future appletree : 2006]

"Etaples" sounds like the music you would play at the watery funeral of a well-known elephant. That's just what I hear - and I'm really not sure what it means, other than an elephant must have died and that's damn sad.

Once past the somber instrumental opener on We're Not Talking About The Universe, Are We (#1), the scene seems to brighten up - slightly. There is a formula of stomping percussion, regal horns & keys as vocals/guitarist Jamie Toal chants some intelligence on our planet [see: Universe (Parts I and II) and why things work [which leaves me proofing the albums title a few times]. By "Hook and Cycle", part 4 of the 6 part album, the entire band has let the dim clouds that follow the passing of elephants return to the patch of sky in which they belong. "Hook and Cycle" carries its weight above a pleasant bassline that yields to, again, horns, keys and more guitar than the previous contributions on We're Not Talking.

Nice stuff here [a nod to George Carlin] - I'd even go as far as calling a track like "Involution" a 'groove' with her Birdland-esque keys and rhythm. Tenki has challenged me with this album, and today, I felt like I needed that test.

No animals were harmed [or wished harm upon] in the writing of this brief lecture.