Daniel Higgs: Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot

I’m sure Daniel Higgs is a sweet, tender and loving man. I’m positive he knows the difference between wrong and right, both on a human and spiritual level. However, taking his cue it appears from Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, Higgs tries to make the most of “Luminous Carcass Ornament” which sounds like it was put together by the simpleton pig lovers in Deliverance. From there, Higgs tries to outdo himself with “Cocoon on the Cross”, an 11-minute din of guitar, keyboard and other assorted noisemaking devices. Here Higgs seems to have a point early on in the manner of a Ry Cooder, but it’s mixed with moments of inanity. Over the course of its length, fans of early Pink Floyd might also warm up to it. But the majority of the album is one artist’s noodle-ing for the sake of noodle-ing, as is the case with “Spectral Hues” and “Subatomic Yggdrasil Tarot”. Only “Hems And Seams” has some sort of purpose, albeit in a Middle Eastern hallucinogenic kind of way. Not for the faint of heart; or strong of heart.