Since 2000, New Zealand-based experimental guitarist
Roy Montgomery has been far less prolific than he was in the '90s, having dedicated far more of his time to non-musical pursuits such as his career as a professor at Lincoln University. Aside from soundtrack work and limited split LPs with
Grouper and
the Dead C's
Bruce Russell,
R M H Q: Headquarters is
Montgomery's first major solo work since 2000's
The Allegory of Hearing and its companion album, 2001's
Silver Wheel of Prayer. The project is a sprawling four-disc behemoth, with each album inhabiting a particular mindset and having a distinct theme.
Q: Transient Global Amnesia is more of a cosmic head trip than the other discs. "Otherness" is crystalline and mysterious, while "Riding" is more rugged and sunny; listening to them back-to-back is like the difference between night and day. The disc ends on an astounding note with the deeply hypnotic 20-minute epic "Weathering Mortality," which buries haunting operatic vocals by Emma Johnston under
Montgomery's melancholy, multi-tracked strumming. ~ Paul Simpson