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| Track by Track Review
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Dangerous Curves
This EP’s opening track is structured around extensive repeated sections, building tension through repetition, and finally release. In a number of ways, this song’s structure can be compared to similar uses of repetition and release evident in classical and chamber music. As Robert Fripp has been hesitant to recreate older material in the most recent iterations of the band, a cynic might see this composition as a modern reworking of the band’s “Mars” arrangement, last played live in 1969. The piece is fully Crimson, however, with no quoting or lifting of melody from previous works. |
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Level Five
Built around keening, sustained Fripp guitar solo and a THRaK like rhythm, this is Crimson in nuovo metal form. An ascending chordal structure and unrelenting rhythm elevate this lengthy instrumental to levels of heaviness unmatched in King Crimson’s catalogue. The track often sounds and feels like an extension of the themes and constructional ideals of the “Larks’ Tongues” school of compositions, and may have missed out on being titled “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic V” out of a desire to leave that particular name behind. |
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Virtuous Circle
Trey Gunn’s Warr guitar line adds a pulsing ostinato rhythm on this piece, while Robert Fripp layers soundscapes and sound effects in an orchestrated yet improvised manner. Guitar solos take on an almost violin like timbre, while scattered throughout are moments featuring Fripp’s traditionally tortured, overdriven guitar tone. A dark and heavy electronic drum and bass section arises out of nowhere, shocking the listener lulled by the preceding restrained and musically subtle instrumental break. |
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The ConstruKction of Light
This is the only track with vocals on this limited edition EP, and even at that they feature far less than in most King Crimson tracks. The track is built around interlocking gamelan like ostinato, similar in timbre and texture to the band’s 1980’s output. Belew’s lyrics again veer toward stream of consciousness and obtuse references. While the instrumental parts rival any of King Crimson’s earlier output for complexity, the vocal sections feel as out of place on this live take on the song as they do on the earlier studio iteration. |
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The Deception of The Thrush
“The Deception of the Thrush” had existed in one form or another throughout the band’s multiple ProjeKCt line-ups, and has become over time one of the group’s newest signature pieces. A lengthy and atmospheric instrumental, vocal samples from T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” run through vocoder-like processing add a disturbing, alien quality to the piece, which gradually develops toward a brilliant and emotionally bright climax. |
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Improv: ProjeKct 12th and X (hidden track)
Tacked on some 2 minutes after the completion of the definitive take on “The Deception of the Thrush,” this is further evidence of King Crimson’s continuing ability to excel at improvisation. Tortured guitar lines scream over a gently pulsing electronic beat, while soundscapes gently add lushness that in earlier bands would be handled by mellotron. The piece slowly builds, the rhythm becoming more insistent and intense. While this did not evolve into a discrete composition later on, it is an enjoyable improv and a worthy hidden extra. |
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| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTqqxpTmgMcm-lTIVqNCeyA |
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