Chat Noir: Hyperuranion

Celebrating its seventh release—and third album by this London-based band for Rare Noise—is an eclectic union of progressive rock, krautrock, jazz and ambient-electronica with pathways into futuristic techno-like permutations. In addition, pioneering Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molvaer performs on four tracks. At times the program conveys sonic characteristics of a cathedral recording due to resonating licks and textures that dissipate into deep space, generating a semblance of spiritual activity.

The musicians' parallel Plato's relatively deep doctrine, Hyperuranion, concerning a perfect realm of forms and other interrelated canons. Here, the band dishes out a horde of abstract tonalities, multileveled EFX treatments, dark streaming synth sounds and sturdy pulses, as the layered sound-shaping treatments and Molvaer's brassy proclamations go beyond your customary electronics-based platform. On the flip side," Humanity" is akin to an extraterrestrial ballad, driven by a simple and subdued hook. Ultimately, the artists' artful use of electronics includes resonating choruses, quirky mini-themes, elongated single note lines, polytonal melody-making and sanctified inferences.

They traverse a parallel universe via multiple moving parts that synch up rather effectively. With movements featuring pressurized, subliminal motifs and drummer Moritz Baumgartner's scruffy patterns on "Matador Insects" and the trumpeter's regal phrasings atop swarming treatments on "Quasar (reprise)," the ensemble adds 2/4 rock grooves and alternating sub-themes into the grand schema. In sum, this isn't your plain old vanilla hybrid electronics program. Essentially, these multitasking musicians insert sheets of harmonious reverberations into largely, compelling theme-building episodes, spawning an embryonic apocalypse, tempered by memorable riffs and cheery advances into the 4th Dimension.

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