DJAM KARET - SUSPENSION ANS DISPLACEMENT - 1991

"Suspension & Displacement" was originally released in 1991 as a double with "Burning The Hard City", the later being an album that was as aggressive as this disc is serene. This is very much a guitar album. But the focus is on creatively conceived soundscapes in which patterns and textures are painted on an aural canvas to produce music that is meditational, but complex in its execution. Robert's Fripp's guitar experimentations, Discipline-era King Crimson, David Torn, and Pink Floyd all came to mind as I lost myself in the music on this album.

Among the highlight tracks is "Dark Clouds, No Rain", which opens with Frippoid guitar soundscapes set against an ambient background. Percussion soon enters the picture, opening the door for New Age keyboards and more guitars, one adding a harshness to the mix with it's fuzzy drone. An impressive collection of sounds, and reading the previous line I wonder if readers will consider this a strange conglomeration, but I assure you it's all very subtle and works quite well. "Angels Without Wings" is a similar track, but with multiple guitars picking steady runs rather than the mechanical Frippoid sound.

"Erosion" is one of my favorite tracks on this CD. A repeating guitar pattern provides the base against which the music develops. Once again it's part Frippoid, but the Fripp feel is embedded in a dreamier cosmic excursion. The instrumental patterns develop very subtly, and only attentive listening will reveal the complexity of the music. There's the repeating patterns on the one hand, and the ambient textures on the other. But everything is cooperative and the contrasting elements fit together quite well. The pace picks up after a while and becomes a bit frantic, yet somehow remains calming. "Severed Moon" is similar to "Erosion". There's that repeating pattern again, but we hear deep space guitars. Tribal percussion takes over for a moment before a Pink Floydian "Welcome To The Machine" acoustic guitar begins to strum, accompanied by beautiful spacey landscapes.

Ok, let's call it New Age music. Or at least what New Age music should be. Thoughtful, creative, complex, yet meditational and uplifting. The listener who just switched from Yanni doesn't need to know they're hearing great space music.
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