In The Headlight Serenade, Triosk has produced one of the most tastefully compiled jazz-electronica albums since the two styles began to mix. Throughout the album, Triosk manages to be experimental without sacrificingtone or direction, a pitfall of experimental music that is ever-increasingly difficult to avoid. So much ground has been covered with respects to new sounds, that to be simulaneously unique, interesting and entertaining is one of the most difficult tasks for an experimental musical group. Arguably, The Headlight Serenade is an example of where this obstacle is truly cleared.

While Triosk remarkable achievement in contemporary jazz, there was a point at which the free nature of its structure was detrimental to how well it sustained interest over thecourse of a full album, particularly in light of the repetitive nature of Triosk's music. On The Headlight Serenade, there is a noticeable addition of more conventionally structured "songs" that, instead of cheapening the sound, enriches the entire listening experience, introducing a range of moods that would not be achievable through the sheer atmosphere of Triosk's more minimal sonic experiments.

This is particularly true of the album's opener "Visions IV", which is undoubtedly the catchiest piece of music Triosk has produced, with thick layerings of creamy keyboard melodies and countermelodies, above juicy andalmost poppy bass and drum lines. The track showcases drummer Laurence Pike's prowess with the drum set in a more conventional context, perhaps and indication of how post-rock/electronica outfit Pivot (of which Pike and
Triosk pianist/keyboardist Adrian Klumpes are members) may have influenced the song oriented approach of some tracks on the Headlight Serenade. However, Triosk's earlier established innovative style remains, here extended upon - the most minimalistic elements are demonstrated in "Intensives Leben", which boasts frantic straight chordal semiquavers in its piano track, and a pots-and-pans beat of a similar rhythm, who's repetitivenature and slow progression marks well Triosk's apparent fascination with minimalism.

Stylistic notes aside, what Triosk does best, is to play the role of a musical psychoactive drug, with its major focus on the construction of elements to create a mood. When Triosk is playing, time slows. "Not to Hurt You" demands your eyes to fill with big, fat tears, even (or perhaps particularly) while surrounded by a carriage full of commuters on a train to the city. Klumpes caresses a piano part like every member of his family, his two dogs and a parrot has died in the past week, accompanied by a similarly anguished performance from drums and bass, and the most emotional use of tempo-less background percussion and odd sounds in recent history. In other tracks, the listener is induced to experience a dangerously overwhelming euphoria, such is Triosk's mastery of sonic landscapes. "Lazyboat" and "Vostok" offer up vast seas of subtly progressing ambient sounds, punctuated by occasional piano, bass and drum parts that diversify the sound spectrum remarkably.

It is remarkable that a group such as Triosk has been able to achieve such a strong emotional response, where experimental music is so often alienating to an audience. The experimental nature of Triosk's work is so often not a detriment to its connection with a listener, but rather a device by which the audience is engaged, and with The Headlight Serenade eventually providing a start-to-end experience that is far deeper than a robotic collection of sonic experiments that only arty wankers like myself could appreciate, a hurdle that many experimental groups fail to cross. Triosk is ahead of the pack in every way conceivable, and there is little anyone else can do to change that. "The Headlight Serenade" is a soundtrack to the most intense moments of your death, your life and your birth (in no particular order). This is beautiful music.

-Marcus Whale