Joan of Arc, Presents Pine Cone (side A)

With 2012's release of Presents Pine Cone, the range of albums under the Joan of Arc moniker continued to expand.  2007's Field Recordings of Dreams found central Joan of Arc figure Tim Kinsella working in a purely abstract realm far from song structure or rock referents, but he released that album under his own name.  Pine Cone feels a bit less indulgent than Field Recordings of Dreams, but still much further from rock music than anything Kinsella had released under the Joan of Arc name.  Perhaps brief contributions from a few regular band associates identify this album as a band endeavor.  Pine Cone moves through a series of short and diverse instrumental ideas, with each cross-fading into the next.  The structure reminds me vaguely of albums like Faust Tapes or Eyeless in Gaza's Pale Hands I Loved so Well.  Like Eyeless in Gaza, Joan of Arc use this experimental side to stay lighter in emotional presentation than on their more structured albums.  The generally airy sound and floaty feel keeps Pine Cone from ever hinting at darkness.  Most of the short sketch sections are electronic, with drones and tones filling space.  Acoustic guitars, a badly-recorded live drummer, and an oddly cut-up drum machine program turn up too.  While concepts occasionally repeat through the album, they always fall far apart, with unrelated parts between them, so it's hard to remember how similar a part is to the last related one that came up.  Sonically, most of Pine Cone has the bright and slightly sterile feel of early Joan of Arc albums like Live in Chicago 1999, but it's contrasted with a couple of very primitive sounds that make brief appearances.  The impressive packaging features multiple layers and inserts, and clearly received a lot of attention — the foldover outer cover is especially beautiful and impressive.