Jim O'Rourke was an experimental music prodigy, still sometimes press-ganged by left-field American rockers needing inspiration. His new 38-minute collage is as ambitious in its pan-denominational scope as Mr Holland's Opus. A pleasant acoustic-guitar part suffers a fragmented breakdown. Southern-rock licks scrawl over shuffling snare. Pretty pianos battle minimalist drones. O'Rourke pits styles usually deployed ironically by his ilk against the folk and jazz textures we accept as inherently truthful, and still this uneasy alliance bears fruit.
Drag City DC375