John Kline and Mark Christianson release ‘Semi Automata’

“Semi Automata” is a synergistic collection of eclectic and expressive collaborative instrumentals by two multi-instrumentalist recording artists.This is an act cut from a decidedly different cloth.  John Kline and Mark Christianson bring  a number of disparate musical elements into surprisingly perfect accord. They draw wide from a wide and impressive rhythmic vocabulary that gives each of the ten songs on their debut its own percussive signature.

The  title track and opener, Surreal are  diffuses atmospherics and direct melodic involvement. Meanwhile, echo-drenched chords in Perception Filter  sound like steam escaping from an overheated pipe and there is a force simmering just below the relatively placid tempos that hints at darker depths. The melancholy common to shoegaze makes its presence felt throughout the opening tracks, but here, as elsewhere, their  disparate musical elements in sympathy with one another to create a greater, cohesive whole.

The song ‘Euphoric recall’  has an unusual rhythmic pull. Distance continues to be an important album motif  with the production on tracks like this sounding like it is emanating from within a glittering cloud.

Spring Forward finds the duo moving in a more quantifiably commercial direction. Despite only clocking in at a little over five minutes in length, Spring Forward is not the longest track. That record goes to ‘Go To Your Room’ which clocks in at a record 11.34 mins setting a  resounding musical statement.

This isn’t simply a duo who can win over listeners with their imaginative daring – instead, the contemporary beats and straight-forwardness of this songs show they are capable of connecting with listeners on a visceral level.

Covenant of Frendship  takes this a step further. The groove is better defined than ever before, very immediate and memorable, without losing the cleverness defining so much of their work.

The second to last song,  Temporal Incursions, will likely prove to be a song many listeners gravitate to before others. As an introduction, it’s in a curious place on the track list, but it does provide a two minute and seventeen  seconds primer on the duo’s abiding musical aims and their compositional style.

The Music Therapy Experiment. do a little bit of everything and they pull it all off with talent and bravery. Their album Semi Automata will win over a wide swath of fans – pop, hip-hop, and even progressive music fans can find much to enjoy here.