Art Bears, Winter Songs (side A)

It's easy to find 1979's Winter Songs confusing, as I did many years ago on first listen.  The songs are stylistically diverse, and it's purposely sequenced to emphasize the variations.  Tracks rarely flow neatly together, with each track newly demanding attention as it leaps from the last.  Some elements reference rock music, like the guitar / drum heavy arrangements, short song lengths, and repeating drum patterns.  These elements are juxtaposed with very incongruous ideas from other musical traditions, especially Dagmar Krause's vocal melodies, which loosely borrow from Eastern European folk and Western classical forms, but mostly create a unique musical language of their own.  Neither the melodies nor Krause's style draw a listener in — they also do not create any purposeful emotional arc.  Winter Songs expects repeated listens to reconcile its conflicting tendencies and ideas.  The songs are purposely well-crafted, and the musicianship is excellent.  The cover painting and design somehow manage to reflect the range of ideas captured here, without seeming inappropriately chaotic.  The slightly bright and lo-fi quality of the recording and mastering does not match or flatter the work, even as the variety of approaches and sounds captured is impressive.