2 out of 5

Label: Silber

Producer: Rollerball?

I’m not clear what it’s a companion to, exactly, and it’s free, and it’s only about ten minutes, but this works more as a sampler of effects / loops the group had maybe hoped to use elsewhere, with only one Rollerball-esque song emerging from the five tracks – track 4, ‘Picture of Trees,’ which has the mysterious, wandering jazzy and folky vibe that the group so slyly slips into, with a proper fade in / out as well.  The other clips, in comparison, start and end out of nowhere, interesting experiments within the minutes they exist, but then jarringly cutting out for the next track.  It’s not unlistenable once you know you’re not in for a full collection of tracks, and I suppose there’s honesty in advertising in calling it a companion, but in terms of Rollerball pieces I’d keep in rotation, even ‘Trees’ has comparable tracks on any of the groups bamillion releases that have more room to develop.

If I learn of some other reasoning for the structure of these short companion discs and it changes my opinion, I’ll update the review.