Consisting of what actually appear to be two separate pieces split into sections -- along the lines of
Kate Bush's
Hounds of Love, if not anywhere near as well-known --
Panchroma demonstrates that
Waterwheel fits easily into the Michigan space rock/zone-out underground of the '90s. In the first section, "Panchroma" itself, it's all the more clear; while song titles like "Cascade Florale" and "Carnivalfarewellyell" sound like they could have turned up on a
Füxa release around the same time, the band's emphasis is less guitar and more electronics in general. There's a healthy sense of
the Orb's way around ambient dub propulsion that pervades the first half, while individual tracks suggest everything from
Brian Eno's beautiful, icy float ("Acrobat") to
Vidna Obmana's mystic tribal visions ("Jejune"). Guitar certainly isn't ignored -- it's always there, from the backing swirl and scrape on "Rasputin -- Lushevening" to the rising loops arcing through "Cosmi." The second section, "Colors -- Sparks -- Signals," is a much more off-kilter and surprising affair, consisting of shorter snippets and fragments. Some songs -- "Motorsculpture," "Tone Cluster for Melanie Morgan" -- suggest demos of "Panchroma" cuts with processed guitar and stripped-down loops. Others consist of chopped-up orchestra snippets, brief turns through minimal bass arrangements (plus some filtering here and there), and similar engaging randomness. "Partygoer" is somewhere between a field recording of a country bluesman playing a
Philip Glass riff and someone in the studio distorting the same -- not the first thing that one might expect, but that's part and parcel with the surprising, low-key pleasures of this CD. ~ Ned Raggett