Inside the Ships

Tarwater's continual evolution into something other than what it was before, however subtle each individual step might be, proceeds as ever on 2011's Inside the Ships, the group's 11th full-length. If the band's mix of electronic-heavy arrangements and distanced singing is clearly a sonic stamp, "Photographed' begins on such a tense, ominous note that it's hard to hear it as anything but a challenge to the listener not to simply take the results as is, but to engage with the release. Songs like "Radio War," with clattering, hollow percussion suddenly added on top of the core electronic throb and punch, or the distorted electronic voice and almost martial march of "Get On" further play on the sense of there being no need or desire for this being "just" another Tarwater release. There are also genteel moments, or near enough, in the soft lope of the title track, the wind instruments from Detlef Pegelow providing a suitably elegant backing for the vocals, or the steady grace of "Furkan" and the brief flow of "Now and Again." Two cover versions also surface, the first thoroughly reworked musically from its original source of inspiration, by jettisoning the original arrangement entirely; their take on D.A.F.'s "Sato Sato" only slightly suggests the original's harsh rhythmic punch in the full-bodied drumming, but otherwise feels like a sweeter, quirkier celebration with notably calmer vocals. Meanwhile, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Do the Oz" slinks in an elegant fashion, saxophone and more adding to an arrangement that feels just futuristic enough but still in a time when we seem to have caught up with the concept.