We last heard from Jeff Greinke on his stunning 2002 solo CD, Wide View. Now, in 2003, Greinke returns with Weather from Another Planet. Greinke's never been one to stick with a style or constrained sonic palette (though Wide View was stunning in its simplicity; something of a minimalist triumph for the artist), and Weather represents a shifting of the sounds we are accustomed to hearing on past fourth-world-styled albums. As usual, it is pulled off with aplomb that bespeaks his great talent--making a startlingly different work that fools the listener into thinking Greinke's been doing this stuff all along.

Perhaps the most startling development heard on Weather is the increased attention to rhythm programming (something largely absent from most recent Greinke solo work). There's a jazzy component at work here, giving the electronics a playful sound as evidenced by the first track, "Sunday Afternoon." Perhaps this can be considered some type of antidote to the gentle austerity of Eno's Thursday Afternoon--here we're at play, perhaps powered by light and sweet coffee, where muted rhythms and vibraphone converge to create a type of musical recreation. It's interesting to note that the tracks on Weather from Another Planet are never above seven minutes. This is an album of vignettes with surprising stylistic switchbacks. As an example, the relaxed atmosphere of the first track is abandoned for the compelling "Climb" which combines cello-synth drones and a martial down-tempo beat. This is an uphill ascent, one that promises eventual success--whether the mountain is on Earth or some other terrain is up to the listener's interpretation. "Visitor" begins prettily with sustained tones, gradually accompanied by some affecting electronic vocalizations. The visitor speaks a strange language--outwardly malevolent--though with careful attention, an understanding may be reached. "Dark Glass" recalls Greinke's earlier work in the industrial ambient vein, but shot through with the tones of Wide View. A mysterious trombone-like tonal wash introduces a slow musicality here, somehow uncomfortable and uninviting. Impossibly, after the gothic drapery of the preceding track, Greinke introduces reggae’s skittering percussives in "Spin," blended with soloing synths and pointilist piano. On paper it sounds like a trainwreck but Greinke makes it work, using interesting percussion out of context, claiming it as his own. "Krakatoa" begins metronomically, featuring the return of the horn-synth from "Dark Glass" and an extremely melodramatic bell gong. I find this track (and the preceding "Dark Glass") to be a little too similar to television synth-soundtrack music, with an overstated drama that wears thin quickly. No sputtering volcanoes here. "Big Stride" is far more interesting, with quietly swirling water sounds, a chill beat, and ambient atmospherics. Greinke adds synth-tuba(!) that seems out of place, but does not last long or wear out its welcome. By this time in the record I was growing tired of synth-horn sounds, which, for me, detracted from otherwise interesting compositions. "Rolling Square" avoids this trend, with a Paul Schütze-style orchestra of strange sounds coupled with reverberant synth tones. There is still some degree of "synth-soloing," but it fits more comfortably with the sonics here. "Little Dust Devils" is an appropriately swirling track of psychedelic sound washes and what sounds like a guitar soaring along. This is a highlight of the album, compelling and descriptive. Finally, "Flight" brings things to a satisfying finish, featuring Greinke's trademark ambient atmospheres, insistent rhythms, and synth-tones. Plucked strings are beautifully stratospheric, and the final moments are an ambient guitar bringing us right into the heavens.

For me, Weather from Another Planet misses the mark when its synthwork attempts to sound like real instruments. While Weather has more than enough tracks to appeal to die-hard Greinke fans like myself, much of the album seems forced into a musicality that just doesn't sit comfortably. I found myself enjoying the first few tracks and the last two, but as a whole Weather loses steam midway through. The combination of ambient synth and more soundtrack-styled music is an intriguing development in Greinke's solo oeuvre. For me, Greinke's strength lies in his strange, gurgling atmospherics, or the spare, minimalist tones of Wide View; on Weather from Another Planet Greinke's reach seems to exceed his grasp. In essence, Weather is a Pyrrhic victory. When traveling to other planets, the weather is equally likely to be sunny or stormy. It is up to the traveler to interpret which condition is more appealing.

Released on FWD records.

since July 15, 2003