It's no surprise that San Diego's Upsilon Acrux have found their way to the Cuneiform roster; after all, the Californian quartet are one of the better domestic prog acts currently working, and Cuneiform's long been one of North America's premiere depots for the best of prog, past and present. Galapagos Momentum, the band's first offering under the Cuneiform flag, features a sound well within the parameters of Upsilon Acrux's past work, though with some important updates. In what seems to be, of late, consistent turnover, the group's dual-drummer attack has been pared to a solo percussionist, and gone is the Moog that laced much of 2004's Volucris Avis Dirae-Arum, leaving the group in a more conventional configuration of guitars, bass, and drums.
Recorded in LA with Jay Pellicci, Galapagos Momentum is the smoothest of Upsilon Acrux's efforts, both in songwriting and in production. Volucris Avis Dirae-Arum upped the ante in terms of aggression, and their newest effort finds the band settling down a bit, certainly not into pacific waters, but without the bite that tinged much of their last album's content. The fidelity of Galapagos Momentum is clean and clear, offering a sonic experience as yet unattained in Upsilon Acrux's label-hopping discography in tandem with forty minutes of music that constitutes the band's best effort to date. Melodies abound amidst the cleverly tangled musical lines, and while the band seem to have abandoned the ambient floaters that once peppered their albums, Paul Lai and company infuse their compositions with enough slivers of charm as to offset the rather perplexing algebra that usually constitutes the arc of their songwriting. As ever, Upsilon Acrux have comfortably loosed themselves from the moors of their forefathers; on tracks like "Touched By God (Inappropriately)" Nintendo soundtracks seem as salient an influence as anything perpetrated by the likes of Henry Cow, King Crimson, or Magma. This is still unquestionably prog, however, and some of the best contemporary music made of the ilk. Since the album's recording, a line-up shuffle has again reconfigured the band, with guitarist Lai the only surviving member, though it's safe to say that whatever group of mucisians comes your way on Upsilon Acrux's fall '07 US tour to support Galapagos Momentum will be a band indubitably worth checking out.
