The members of Arthur King joined Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) on a trip to the Isle of Eigg, Scotland. The trip yielded enough inspiration to produce a soundtrack record, Changing Landscape, and an upcoming art installation in Los Angeles. The album succeeds on its own, though, luckily.
"An Sgurr" opens with a hint of menace, the sound-samples here looping around feedback and throbbing bass. A keyboard figure hovers around this, and the menace grows. The more pastoral "Laig Beach" is laid-back, the sound of a summer day punctuated by electronic instrumentation, while "Eigg Electric" uses a Kraftwerk-worthy keyboard hook to hold the whole mechanism together. For a tune inspired by an island, there's a distinctly urban vibe on this one. The finale, "St. Franny's, unfolds like a number from Underworld, the peaks of the electronic textures reaching a feeling of uneasy peace.
There's momentum throughout Isle of Eigg, and the whole project is far more interesting, and the pieces more complex, than one might have imagined. Best heard all at once, Changing Landscape should please anyone who enjoyed the Admiral Radley releases from Lytle and Aaron Espinoza (Earlimart), both part of this one. The whole thing requires patience, but the rewards are rich ones.