Tweaker
2 a.m. Wake Up Call

2 a.m. Wake Up Call is an album aimed at those who have little tolerance for stale and repetitive rock, self-proclaimed as revolutionary and nonconformist in the name of a rebellion of which it has not been a messenger for at least five years now. But above all, it's a dozen songs rich in small precious ideas that don't shock but know how to engage, directed especially at fans of the Bristol scene, and to those who have recently appreciated the studio work of Telefon Tel Aviv.
Having grown under the shadow of the famous friend Trent, Chris Vrenna, a former live drummer for Nine Inch Nails, has become an important figure in the exploration of the fusion between rock and electronic music in many of its forms and possibilities, sliding within an album – whose perhaps biggest and only flaw is the lack of a common thread running through the various emotions touched by the voices of the guest artists – from an arpeggiated acoustic guitar to unexpected pounding beats, to the ethereal sliding of mister Johnny Marr, to the autumnal downtempo of David Sylvian's "pure genius," without neglecting the obsession with truth sung in verses by Robert Smith of the Cure.

The guests who help Vrenna and Clint Walsh in this work, contrary to what happened in other albums recently released, give an important and concrete contribution to the record, which is thereby widely enriched and multifaceted. Chris, detaching himself from the parent project and the fervent New Orleans, has managed to build from nothing a project strong with many experiences matured over time or contributed by the kind guests who are present. Jennifer Charles's seductive yet not languid voice brings us back to the best episodes of Portishead in the splendid Crude Sunlight, while here and there you can breathe the atmosphere of Robert Del Naja's downtempo school, so don't expect to hear old-fashioned industrial in Tweaker!

This 2 a.m. wake up call is not an album that will change your perception of music, but it will be good company on a reflective and contemplative evening, perhaps in winter, certainly not to be shared with more than one other person.