The Book Of Knots - Garden Of Fainting Stars (Ipecac)

For this, the third and final chapter of their ‘By Sea, By Land, by Air’ trilogy of releases, the bold quartet of aural explorers known as The Book Of Knots turn their gaze skywards, away from the sea and the rusted interior land of their previous albums, to look toward the twinkling stars, the beckoning moon and the virgin vastness of space.

Taking the perspective of the early pioneers of space exploration, and those doomed creatures shot into the aether with no hope of return, the band and their guest musicians give voice to those Icarus-like dreamers and intrepid visionaries across ten tracks of cinematic, dramatic avant-rock.

The core quartet of Matthias Bossi, Carla Kihlstedt – both also of avant-art-unusualists Sleepytime Gorilla Museum – Tony Maimone and Joel Hamilton are joined by a number of guest musicians and vocalists as on their two previous albums, this time including Einstürzende Neubauten vocalist Blixa Bargeld, legendary bassist Mike Watt, Secret Chiefs/Asva/ex-Mr Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance – in a thoroughly bizarre cameo during the introduction to closing track ‘Obituary For The Future’ - and Ipecac honcho Mike Patton, amongst other luminaries.

Not that guests are needed to beef up the sound made by The Book Of Knots, as the quartet are quite clearly more than capable of holding their own against any heavyweight artiste who may deign to join in. Kihlstedt possesses a clear and sonorous voice that could certainly draw comparisons to Bjork, minus the hysteria, and uses it to great effect on jagged yet sweet opener ‘Microgravity’ and the previously mentioned closer ‘Obituary For The Future’.

Inbetween these, Bargeld switches between louche monologue, soaring semi-opera and choking rasps on ‘Drosophilia Melanogaster’, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum vocalist Nils Frykdahl drapes his usual arch, dramatic vocal over the twisted avant-pop of ‘Moondust Must’, Patton does that voodoo that he do so well on the brooding ‘Planemo’ and Mike Watt is, well, Mike Watt. Lesser known quantities Aaron Lazar and Nervous Cabaret vocalist Elyas Khan lend their voices, in turn, to the spectrally beautiful yet oddly unsettling ‘Lissajous Orbit’ and the beautiful title track itself, ‘Garden Of Fainting Stars’.

Despite all of these unique voices, the album still feels as though cut from whole cloth thanks to the virtuoso performances of The Book of Knots themselves. Drawing together the disparate threads of jagged, angular, artful avant-rock, the cinematic sweep of heavily orchestrated incidental music, the intimacy and microtonality of minimalism and ambient music and the strings and sensibility of chamber music, The Book of Knots provide the textures and treatments needed to make their guests at once shine and still feel like a vital part of the very deign itself – no small feat, but one pulled off by the band with style, verve and aplomb. For The Book of Knots it certainly feels like the sky is no longer the limit, from here they can go anywhere and everywhere.