Fat Worm of Error – Ambivalence and the Beaker CDr

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Thoroughly embracing the stereotypical avant-garde, Fat Worm of Error’s album Ambivalence and The Beaker is one of unsettling weirdness and alienating environments. The impression I got from listening to this album was one of something breaking for a half an hour straight, while we as listeners are witness to this bizarre display of pure, stream of consciousness sensory output. The sound mostly consists of a combination of unaltered field recording and improvisational guitar, alongside other instruments. The cowbell is used to the point of utter exhaustion. Distorted vocals screaming absurdist lyrics contribute to the eccentric atmosphere.

The biggest strength of Ambivalence and the Beaker is the band’s ability to create a whole lot of tension, whether through shrieks of warped electronics or percussive assaults, and suddenly drop the bottom out of the section and leave behind a sound very hollow and isolationist. This lasts for at least half of the album before devolving into a bit of a gimmick. There are sections scattered on this album that carry real expressive weight and are truly brooding, creating urgency and genuine drama and hostility, but the redundancy thing begins to kick in a little too soon. I love the way Fat Worm of Error can push and pull the listener’s attention; I just don’t love that they can’t sustain that effect throughout a whole album.

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