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With around 20 CDR and tape releases out before I had actually heard them, Davenport's catalog seems looming and impenetrable. This live recording from a Fall 2004 tour stop at the Flywheel in East Hampton is not the best place to start. This 25 minute long track is built mostly from drum circle and droning sustained tones (from a conglomeration of voice, strings, and effects). There's a few really interesting things going on. A xylophone two note micro-melody holds together the lumbering mass which starts the song. Muted, distorted voices sing indecipherable words as drums crash and thump around them. It would be just a big mess without that recurring xylophone theme. When the piece tranisitions to droning feedback tones, a laugh comes out from under the willow and is soon joined by operatic pseudosinging. I'm glad it's out there, but, unless you favor the "Hoof Trip" side of Sunburned Hand of the Man, Davenport's other releases are superior. While I immediately ripped Tongue of Bear and Springtime on Saturnalia and moved them to my portable player, this one will stay on the rack for a once in a blue moon playing.

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