Stian Westerhus
Pitch black star spangled
Rune Grammofon
To say that Norwegian Stian Westerhus is a respected experimental artist is quite the understatement. To add that his output may well be overrated by many is also a fair point. "Pitch black star spangled" has been lauded by certain members of the press and, while it is a decent album within the realm of experimental guitar-based drone, it's a difficult one to listen to other than in a passive sense, whereby the music serves as the background to something more important (for me that was rearranging part of my office and, on another occasion, reading an old copy of Cinefantastique from May '86). Yes, he has quite obviously thought in great detail about what goes where, how different passages should be arranged, and how to keep the album as varied as possible, but there's something about it that just cries boredom. For the apparent randomness of the compositions within "Pitch black star spangled" it is, however, clear that everything has been carefully thought out and crafted. Therein, of course, lays the visionary in Westerhus. Sadly, it doesn't quite hit the mark this time.
- John Norby
