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Brandon Seabrook

Object of Unknown Function

Review by Gary Hill
This album is unique. It’s not mainstream music by any means. This instrumental set is created on banjos and guitars with the help of a four-track tape recorder. There are things here that sound like they can’t be done on the instruments used, so I have mentioned what they sound like more than what they actually are. This is definitely not for everyone, but it’s intriguing and often compelling, if challenging.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2025  Volume 2. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2025.
Track by Track Review
Object of Unknown Function

Frantic picking is on the menu here. After the minute-and-a-half mark, we hear something that sounds almost like an explosion or thud. Then ominous atmospherics take over for a time. That eventually gives way to more of the picked acoustic instrumentation. It works to tuned percussion for a time, but when returns to the frantic picked stuff. Then weird atmosphere comes in for a short time. Silence follows that before the picking returns in earnest. A tuned percussion section alternating with more atmospherics takes over later. Then we get more picking followed by some frantic string work. The various elements bounce off one another in frantic percussion really taking this into strange, but compelling territory. Eventually the picking takes over again before more weirdness asserts itself. Some strange strings that take us into space later crate another mode. The space really takes control and gets noisier and creepier before ending abruptly as the track does.

Melodic Incidents for an Irrational World

Hammering instrumentation starts this in an almost droning way. It builds gradually from there. This is somehow more focused than the first track, while also feeling weirder in some ways. There are less dramatic changes, but the challenging sonic landscape is even stranger in some ways.

Unbalanced Love Portfolio

There is almost a roots vibe to this as the picking gets it going. It’s still packed full of weirdness, though. It’s a different style of strange, but it’s also oddly compelling.

Perverted by Perseverance

Noisier and more driving, this is crazed with an almost King Crimson vibe to it. That said, this is stranger and more garage band like than the Crimson reference would suggest.

Historical Importance of Eccentricity

Somehow this feels more accessible. That doesn’t mean it’s less challenging or strange. Its rocking energy just seems more cohesive and ready to grab the listener. Mid-track we’re taken into something that is less direct, but no less intriguing in sort of a mellower jam. Then it turns percussive from there.

Phenomenal Doggerel

Frantic picking is on the menu here. This makes me think of “Flight of the Bumblebee” just a little. It’s pretty intriguing.

Gondola Freak

This has a lot of King Crimson built into it. It’s very much about multiple layers of picking at play. It turns to a mellower movement mid-track that is somehow more melodic. That builds back up toward more King Crimson like territory, but then we drift to some spacey weirdness like the strings on a piano being brushed. That mode grows a little and eventually takes us out.

Gawk Fodder

Another with some Crimsonian elements at play, this is cool stuff. It gets pretty driving at times. This thing turns pretty rocking.

Some Recanted Evening

Crazed and suitably strange elements are at play here. This works through a number of changes, and King Crimson vibes definitely take over at times. It also gets electrified and crazed with an almost shoegaze meets stoner metal approach for a time.

The Snow Falling, Falling.

This is much more ambient. At less than a minute-and-a-half of music, this is the shortest track on the disc. It’s also the least dynamic. It does a good job of grounding things.

 
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