A To B

Chronique

Hendrik Kröz, the Berlin-based electronic sound sculptor who records under the name Miwon, is back with his second full-length album. This one is both more wide-ranging and, in some ways, more accessible than Pale Glitter: on the one hand, the album's opening track ("Shinkansen") begins with birdsong and percussion before dissolving into pleasant chord washes and then giving way to nervous beats; on the other hand, the second track ("A to B") starts out in a sort of soca/dubstep fusion mode with dubwise production elements, before eventually emerging as an abstract cover version of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way." If it were played for irony, the gesture would have been annoyingly hipsterish, but instead it comes across as a genuine if quirky homage. Elsewhere, "Round and Round" hints quietly at junglism, "They Leave in Autumn" builds both rhythm and ambience out of an almost all-glitch palette, and "Another Term For" is like a cloud version of an actual song, vague but pretty. On the other hand, "More Guitar on the Monitor, Please" tries to wring too much out of too few chords, and "Kisses to Cure" never builds up to anything much. But even the least interesting moments here are plenty enjoyable, and the most interesting ones border on revelatory.
© Rick Anderson /TiVo