Over the ten years preceding this release,
Food has gradually distilled itself down to two members: saxophonist and flutist
Iain Ballamy and drummer/wielder of electronics
Thomas Strønen. The music on their fifth album is mostly improvised, which can be a little hard to believe at times -- there are moments during "Khymos," for example, when the saxophone's softly insinuating sounds bleed so organically into the unsettled and not really tonal lines spun out by
Strønen that they sound premeditated. Not that everything here is abstract and dour, either: "Apparatus," despite its off-kilter glitchiness, boasts an entrancing groove and a charming (if subtle) melody; "Lota" takes breathy flute sounds and piles them together in feathery layers that are very attractive without being exactly tuneful, "Spherification" flirts with a swing feel while a guitar mutters grumpily in the background, and "Nature's Recipe" brings in a distinctly jungly breakbeat. "Red Algae" is one of the strangest and coolest tracks, a faintly foreboding composition featuring jazzy string bass and brushed drums and weirdly modal saxophone lines.
Molecular Gastronomy is a perfect example of the kind of magic that can occur when improvised music is informed both by sensitive discipline and wide-ranging creativity. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson