Review: Spring Heel Jack's "Treader"

Spring Heel Jack, the John Coxon/Ashley Wales duo who have worked in drum 'n' bass, dub and aural environment music, has released its fifth album "Treader" (Thirsty Ear) in the U.S.

Their first album after a three-year stint at Island Records, "Treader" finds the duo incorporating new elements over their breakbeats, sometimes eschewing them altogether for pieces that could be categorized with new age or contemporary classical composition.

"Pipe" is built on a percussion track using metallic timbres; light synth and strings are then slipped into the mix. And "First Piece for La Monte Young," a synthesizer drone cut that alludes to church organ music, doesn't touch fast-paced programmed rhythms at all.

"More Stuff No One Saw," a laid-back track with a slightly shuffling, percussion track sampled from a recording of a live drummer, builds on a mysterious jazz horn line, then adds '70s synthesizers and big horn sections before stopping short with a plucked-string finish.

The album also includes interpretations of "My Favorite Things" and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" from the musical "The Sound of Music." On the former track, Coxon and Wales sample the original recording's string section playing the theme, but don't present the melody until they have built a new computer-edited composition around it. On ''Climb,'' the duo introduces the theme on chimes and loosely played drums, then brings in pipe organ and manipulated voices to create a cut that is somewhere between the Residents and German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Later this year, Coxon and Wales will release a compilation of their remix projects with Chicago experimental rock band Tortoise, bassist/producer Bill Laswell and Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore. Coxon is also working with Jason Pierce on a new album from Spiritualized.