Since 2000, New Zealand-based experimental guitarist
Roy Montgomery has been far less prolific than he was in the '90s, having dedicated far more of his time to non-musical pursuits such as his career as a professor at Lincoln University. Aside from soundtrack work and limited split LPs with
Grouper and
the Dead C's
Bruce Russell,
R M H Q: Headquarters is
Montgomery's first major solo work since 2000's
The Allegory of Hearing and its companion album, 2001's
Silver Wheel of Prayer. The project is a sprawling four-disc behemoth, with each album inhabiting a particular mindset and having a distinct theme.
R: Tropic of Anodyne showcases
Montgomery's weary baritone vocals, which have only graced a handful of his prior recordings. His lyrics are wry, alienated, and sometimes self-deprecating, particularly on the biting "You Always Get What You Deserve." His guitar playing seems languid and sparse, but it's far more detailed than it appears on the surface. Songs like "As the Sun Sets" (which ends with an excellent, aching guitar solo) manage to sound dark and ethereal without being goth, and the disc is a dreamy set of bitter ruminations.
M: Darkmotif Dancehall is easily the noisiest and most volatile of the four, showcasing
Montgomery's scorching guitar wizardry over stiff, minimalist drum machine rhythms. Like fellow space rock veteran
Flying Saucer Attack,
Montgomery keeps things stubbornly lo-fi and unpolished, covering his drum machine with a cheap layer of reverb and piling on several layers of guitar tracks that often feel loose and ready to unravel. Tracks like "10538 Overdrive" and "Dazed Pig Dreamhome Slide" feel as if they're slowly heading down a spiral of depression, sounding fuller and bleaker as they progress. Only "Slow Heroes" feels like it's looking upward, even if it still seems stuck inside during a rainy day.
H: Bender is the most cinematic disc in the set, conjuring up images of drunken nights staring up at the stars in the wild, wild West. The tracks combine spaghetti Western twang with
Cocteau Twins-worthy drift, with an extra dose of eeriness on numbers like "Pipeline."
Montgomery plugs the drum machine back in for the trippy "Cocktails with Can."
Q: Transient Global Amnesia is more of a cosmic head trip. "Otherness" is crystalline and mysterious, while "Riding" is more rugged and sunny; listening to them back to back is like the difference between night and day. The disc ends on an astounding note with the deeply hypnotic 20-minute epic "Weathering Mortality," which buries haunting operatic vocals by Emma Johnston under
Montgomery's melancholy, multi-tracked strumming.
R M H Q is an incredible, deeply introspective statement from the multifaceted artist. ~ Paul Simpson