Singin' in the Cave

Neanderthal takes some time to settle. As an attempt to evoke the aural landscape of the paleolithic people, it spends too long evolving idle chatter, before heading towards a gentle climax. Four singers battle with words caught between a human ur-language and chimpanzee: sharing a dispersed melodic sensitivity with serialism and fragmenting various vocal traditions, it is a serious academic exercise that, in places, sounds like opera singers making ape noises.

By the finale, a certain beauty echoes through the calm: there are sequences of fragile intensity, even excitement. In a concert setting, the music is exposed. This is unsurprising, given its origin as an exhibition soundscape. It's a cerebral hour, often more involving as a theoretical project.

Flam is altogether livelier: a meeting between two female friends, it converts social jousting and intimacy into an extended duet. The use of word fragments is both amusing and evocative and the wry humour rescues Flam from self-indulgence. A duet of considerable bravura- the range and stamina of the singers is breath-taking- it covers pregnancy, professional rivalry, the contours of friendship and the potential of the simplest communion of two voices.

Vocal Sonics adds another level to New Territories: it moves away from its dance roots towards music that is neither classical nor pop. It does, however, seek out the new and original, even if it pays respect to the familiar and the very ancient.