Orchestra Dim Bridges Review

The Stranger 1/20/05 Dave Segal Violinist Eyvind Kang and multi-instrumentalist Tucker Martine are a match made in studio heaven. Among the most in-demand players and producers working in Seattle's fertile avant/underground music scene, the two also played together on Kang's Virginal Coordinates (2004, Ipecac), a live document of processional East Asian court music, gentle gamelan jams, and minimalist, orchestral art songs--all executed with delicate grace. Orchestra Dim Bridges, by contrast, is a less-coherent affair. Kang and Martine let themselves engage in whatever whimsies they desire. Luckily, those indulgent tendencies result in much worthwhile sonic excavating. Bridges bestows masterly orchestral rock ballads that won't rot your ears with sentimentality; mysterious soundscapes David Lynch would gladly use to increase suspense; blissful downer rock (not a contradiction); and a couple of electronic experiments that sound like Oval remixing Tortoise circa 1996 and a devious digital deconstruction of a stately orchestral piece. Self-indulgence rarely sounds this fascinating.