It's been nearly a month since I saw Bailter Space play live and my ears still haven't recovered. Needless to say, I've been to a great deal of concerts in my time, but Bailter Space wins the contest hands down for "most pummeling wall of sound." While impish bassist John Halvorsen bobbed around the stage and drummer Brent MacLachlan laid down some incredibly monolithic, mechanical (yet sometimes mind-numbingly complex) beats, singer/guitarist Alister Parker looked like he was completely immersed in a world of his own. Looking as if he could have been plucked from the offices of a British accountancy firm, he stood onstage stalk-still, whispering his monotonal, chant-like lyrics and creating an absolutely unholy din with his unsuspecting Rickenbacker. He was either completely bored by the proceedings, or was being mystically transported by them. It's hard to know. But, hey, the important thing here is that the live Bailter Space machine creates a huge mess of sound that's simultaneously beautiful, jagged, atonal, and supremely melodic.

Their latest offering, Solar 3, does a fine job of imitating their huge live sound. Departing from both the spastic bursts of barely coherent noise that riddled last year's Photon EP, and the slightly poppier directions they explored on their two previous albums, Capsul and Wammo, they return to a sound very much like that of their landmark 1994 LP, Vortura. Great, spacious sheets of guitar noise collide with Halvorsen's pulsing, tugging basslines and MacLachlan's murderously precise drumming. Layered on top are Parker's mantra-like lyrics, which vary from a quiet whisper to a ragged, strangled scream. The songs themselves range from the lulling, peaceful 8+ minutes of "Tide" and the comparatively poppy, dreamy "Live for You" to the full-on pummeling attack of "Windows on the World" and "Two Stars."

Parker's lyrics on Solar 3 are more concerned with human relationships than interstellar ones. And the fact that Parker is actually singing about-- rather than merely alluding to-- real people and emotions, lends a refreshing human warmth to the otherwise rather chilly proceedings.

While the fact is that most Bailter Space songs don't amount to much more than a few lines sung quietly over a couple of chords played at deafening volumes, the whole package has the ability to transport the unsuspecting listener into the aural equivalent of the center of an imploding star. Now if somebody would only let me in on what the hell "Bailter Space" actually means, I'd be set.

-Jeremy Schneyer