Tomáš Knoflíček - Serendipity

A Closer Listen

Over the past few years, the LAAPS label has been steadily stretching what may become the world’s longest musical exquisite corpse.  Gurun Gurun’s Tomáš Knoflíček has cleverly injected a touch of internal consistency, as Serendipity circles back to where it began, thanks to closer “Tom Hezekiah,” an alternate take on opener “Becoming Past.”  The very title “Becoming Past” is an Ouroboros.  Twinkling chimes pull the listener into a magical music box world, replete with incomplete vocals: sung here, spoken on the subsequent track, as if the music is seeking its own identity.  An alarm beeps briefly at 2:46 amid the crackle and chatter, a reminder not to relax completely.  The track ends abruptly in light hammering, as if a new world is being constructed; echoes decorate “Tom Hezekiah.”  The future looks back at one past looking back at another past while also linking back to the prior LAAPS album.

In other pieces, time’s arrow is pointed forward.  The gentle “Where the Wasteland Ends” suggests that it is also where something better begins; tender piano indicates peace of mind, although again there is a brief interruption at the three-minute mark, sounding a lot like the frustration of dial-up.  The combination of this piece and “In Search of Miraculous” suggests the boundary between the desert and the promised land, while “Possibility” widens the doors.

The syllables of “Syllabic Speech” and whispers of “Lip Sync (to BN)” highlight the potential worth of fragments.  The tumbled pieces of piano, glitch and acoustic guitar do the same.  Together, they create a new reality outside of time.  The label beautifully describes the “compositions (as having) the character of tin cans,” with various experiences stored inside.  When looking forward or back, one may choose the brightest pieces, the darkest, or a blend of both.  Considering the striking art – a foam party that suggests club life in heaven – we imagine Knoflíček as more of the former.  The album may be released on the last day of meteorologic summer, but in these grooves, the season lasts forever.  (Richard Allen)