Pieced together out of lazy beats and minimalist doses of buzzing synths and electro-percussion,
Mount Florida's electronica is ambient to the extreme. And discounting the dourly sing-songish "Yo La Kinski," melody and song structure are concepts this Scottish duo manages to do without, all of which means
Arrived Phoenix doesn't have much to offer anyone with a bite-sized attention span. But slightly more patient and introspective folks (and acid-eaters, too) will no doubt revel in the soundscapes and dark to mellow moods that rise out of the ashes of electronic flotsam -- keeping in mind, of course, that everything's so speciously related and randomly placed that it's more or less up to the listener to play aural connect the dots. "Space, Echoes" and "Ultimo" are both bizarre sonic odysseys, as spacy keyboard noises gurgle, fade, and are replaced by equally spacy keyboard noises, while "Celebration," which combines a trance-like groove with rapturous guitar fuzz, is easily the most accessible of the strictly ambient pieces and sounds like a
Yo La Tengo B-side, to boot. Rock & roll fun it ain't, but what can you expect from a bunch of guys who sneak long snippets of
Noam Chomsky readings into their tracks? ~ Christian Hoard