It would be easy to state that
Aerial #2 picks up where the previous CD left off, and it would also be wrong. The truth is, this installment feels more like a stand-alone variation on the same theme (that is: empty shortwave frequencies as intersonic space) than a sequel. "Approach" may be a much shorter introduction than "Song" was on Aerial #1, but it still works as an invitation to surrender to
Tod Dockstader's aural vision and tag along with him in his search for lost sounds. There are plenty of lost sounds to be found, and they tend to be slightly grittier and more raucous than on the first CD. For the most part, the music is still drone-based and roughly ambient, if you must stamp a label on it, but tracks like "Surfer," "Beating," and "Wire" are louder and more restless and troubled than the previous material. The 21 pieces included here (for a total duration just a handful of seconds short of 80 minutes) form a spikier journey, with sudden twists and turns, where Aerial #1 flowed more as a conceptual suite. That said,
#2 matches the intensity created and fascination exerted by #1, and will only make you yearn for Aerial #3.
Aerial #2 is sold as a stand-alone album in a jewel case with booklet. The case can be inserted into the cardboard box sold with Aerial #1. ~ François Couture