Composer: Jim O'Rourke
Conductor: Jim O'Rourke
Label: Drag City
Release Date: 2009-09-23
Rated: NONE
Genre: Recording
Think of the one-track Visitor as the proper follow-up to 1997’s Bad Timing, echoing that record’s approach in every way. Both pieces find the middle ground between O’Rourke’s avant-garde side and his pop work, toning down the electronics in favor of a warm, easy approach that ebbs and flows throughout several movements. O’Rourke seamlessly blends a multitude of instruments around an acoustic guitar and piano base, allowing plenty of room for several interesting hooks. The Visitor is considerably less demanding than O’Rourke’s drone-fest recordings, although the incorporation of jazzy time signatures and squalls of organized noise can be challenging. But its warmth wins out over cold experimentalism, revealing The Visitor to be far more man than machine.
