4 out of 5

Label: After Hours

Produced by: HiM

Chameleonic drummer god Doug Scharin reconfigures and amazes once again: 1110, one of his two After Hours discs with Ultra Living, casts an eye back to his jazzier Perishable years, kaleidoscopes it through some post-rock dazzle, then tempers it all with the groove and world-beat influence of his playing partners.  And it’s fabulous: daring, dodgy, upbeat but with a bit of appreciated constraint in comparison to the sunshiney tempos of Many in High Places Are Not Well and Peoples.

While it’s rather ignorant of me to cast the foreignness’ of the Japanese vocals in a certain light simply because I don’t speak the language, I’d like to say it’s not that simple: when Ikuko Harada slips around Scharin’s beautifully layered drumming and the patient and precise instrumentation – all produced and mixed to crystal clarity but maintaining a warmth and closeness of a contemplative performance – her singing style carries emotional weight that enriches the songs; there is mystery and fascination in her words; or so I feel.  And when we’re vocal-less, there’s no less impact: opener Black With Promise simmers over seven minutes to a subtly rising boil of drum-driven jams; Shochu Goes the Train goes nigh full blown jazz, wowing for the way everyone gets a spotlight but jams together so effectively.  The disc’s final two tracks are the only comparative soft spots, functioning slightly more in the jam band format than the more recognizably composed preceding tracks, but in that sense, they work like a wind down to an intensely engaging concert.

We have a lot of HiM music, happily.  But because each album is such a unique experience – 1110 a pinnacle of form, combining all that came before and still sounding new – I can’t help but wish that Scharin was still dropping HiM albums on the regular.