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Rating:
Year 2000. The King returns to the scene after 5 years since the previous "THRAK." The comeback is marked by, indeed, "The ConstruKction Of Light" (notice the play on the "K"s preceding the "c"s to form the group's initials).
The album breaks significantly from its predecessor, aligning more with the second half of "Three Of A Perfect Pair." And the world that emerges from the album is the celebration of the synthetic.
The group seems to have decided to turn onto the path of a kind of minimalism, which, however, allow me the oxymoron, seems at times "baroque", as in the (hypnotic) title track, where a dense guitar dialogue dominates the first part, giving way to Belew's vocals in the second, all supported by a base formed by the excellent Trey Gunn on the warr guitar (don’t ask me what that is :-P) and Pat Mastellotto on drums (personally, I think he would have done better to devote himself to bungee jumping, but, on the other hand…).
The album seems divided between the desire to be spontaneously (as much as KC can be spontaneous) aggressive, as in the opening "ProzaKc Blues" or in "Into The Frying Pain," and an instinct that leads to longer and more complex compositions, like the aforementioned title track or like "FraKctured," an excellent take on the final composition of "Starless And Bibleblack."
From this perspective, the album is quite innovative (although it takes its cues, as I already mentioned, from the second side of Three Of A Perfect Pair), but it hides a very insidious Achilles' heel; in fact, sometimes the compositions seem, even in the most ""spontaneous"" moments, too intricate and seem unable to kick in when a good jolt is needed; even the most aggressive composition, "Lark's Tongues In Aspic IV" (when's the V?), although powerful, remains too intricate and almost imprisoned by the frippertronics (pardon, soundscapes), which intervene very little.
In short, it's a claustrophobic album, sometimes flat, and it seems that the group has taken (for the first time) a dead-end road.
A separate discussion deserves the last song, "Heaven And Heart," a live improvisation that might remind one of the schizophrenia of "Thrakkattak" and can be defined, strictly IMHO, as the best track of the album.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Into the Frying Pan (06:54)
I was just now thinking about the jaws of life
How they chew you up and spit you right
Back into the frying pan
And how life unwinds round and around
Up and down
You think you're fine
But then, you're back in the frying pan
Frying pan
And how life unwinds round and around
And up and down
You think you're fine
But then, you're back in the frying pan
And how life unwinds
you think you're fine
but then...
I was just now thinking about the jaws of life
They chew you up and spit you right
Back into the frying pan
Frying pan
Frying pan
Frying pan
Frying pan
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