Beak>: >> – review

Beak>'s second album was recorded in just one afternoon - quite a feat given that mainman Geoff Barrow is better known as one third of Portishead, who have managed just three albums in 18 years. The results are impressive, if disconcerting, as they build on Portishead's noirish textures and – with vocals buried so deep in the mix as to make them unintelligible – take a turn for the darker. Yatton and Elevator throb along on pulsing motorik rhythms; Kidney sounds like Bad Moon Rising -era Sonic Youth; while slow-burning standout Wulfstan II exudes brooding menace. It makes for a record that's heroically uncommercial, but hypnotic nonetheless.