The first thing I noticed about this album is the cover art - a brilliant job by Jeannie Lynn Paske. It captures sort of the essence of this EP, which is a rare accomplishment for the cover of an album.
The music is strictly solo piano, which somewhat melds modern post-rock leanings with minimalist classical ideas. Philip Glass was obviously a huge influence on this album.
It opens with a piece reminiscent of Mae's prologue to The Everglow. The next song carries this on, as well. From there it goes into darker territory, with the splendid "Perfect Neglect in a Field of Statues", which explores more emotionally driven sentiments. "Nepenthe" adds more dissonance to the formula than we've seen earlier on the album. "In a Sense" parallels the second track, "Genius and the Thieves" in terms of chord progression but augments the ideas and contemplates them more. Moving us back toward resolution is "The Well-Meaning Professor", which builds slowly over seven and a half minutes toward a beautiful climax. A ten-second break between the tracks lets you absorb it, before restating the thesis of the album in "An Accidental Memory in the Case of Death". All in all, a good EP, but it never evolves enough to fully hold your attention.
3.9 / 5
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