Book of Exit: Dub Chamber 4
For those expecting the deep dub throb and surreal ambiences of previous albums in Bill Laswell's Sacred System series, the gentle strains of the opening track, "Ethiopia," will be a surprise. It's a serene lament from Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw. She calls out in pitch-bending eddies on a caressing wave of glassine synthesizer textures, with Laswell playing guitar in a koralike cycle. But by the next track, "The Lower Ground," the familiar sound of Laswell's dark dub bass and Karsh Kale's trancey tabla throb under a melody played into echoing space on a melodica (or sample thereof). It's an homage toAugustus Pablo, the Jamaican reggae artist who built his career around the wind-blown keyboard instrument. This is a smaller crew than usual for Laswell (just three instrumentalists), who doubles up on keyboards and some very snaky guitar. As with all Sacred System discs, there are moments of torpor and grooves without a guide. Laswell remains an avatar of ambient dub space, but he pushes it in unusual directions, as on Gigi's closing "Jerusalem," which gives the album an unlikely but welcome anthemic lift at the end.--John Diliberto