Palace Of Light 
K.Leimer : The Useless Lesson (US,2007)**°
I heard Kerry Leimer’s previous CD, ‘Statistical Truth’, but I am glad that this new work has just a bit more variation than an average ambient work of just one sort of direction that keeps steady one sort of collection of monotone horizon-staring tones (for this habit of continuation, I am not a fan of the genre). This album has a few different areas: a neo-classical influence, some vivid overtones, a small section of semi-acoustic foundations of mostly microtonal keyboard based solo-composition, and more typical ambient landscapes.
The first track is rather neo-classical in nature, played by keyboards like it is usually done, with nothing done to hide this ; on the contrary : the keyboards swell and fade in so much with each chord, a slight exaggeration on this matter makes this into something new, compared to the usual just desolate Gothic ambient effect this creates. The second track shows slowly burning staring sights of ambient drones with overtones. The sounds constantly changes and some manipulated semi-acoustic sounds are mixed in and become part of the living identity. Within the collection of the droning evolution of this, some of the new sounds, are to me like passing-by cars, with some recording of human voices at a different speed or in a different context. Suddenly, the next two tracks show also acoustic ideas, first with acoustic guitar, and an arrangement or improvisation with hobo and violins keyboards and acoustic percussion. This just takes us into a different world, which still is clearly mono- composer controlled stuff, which means, it is just like electronic music but build mostly from a different collection of microtonal keyboard based sounds mixed with a few real instruments. The compositions, with keyboards, acoustic rhythms and some acoustic guitar sounds, through these rhythms remind me a bit in their nature of some of the new, modern, studio-based electronically programmed World music albums. This brings in a bit of thoroughly rocking guitar, more programmed drums, with more contrasts and some more dynamic progressions. After another studio-programmed composition on keyboard cello/violin, with keyboard, a bit Gothic ambient, this is followed by a longer composition in a more typical ambient style : moody, landscape-creating, staying longer on the richness of some of its microtones, before returning a last time to more neo-classical ambient, which includes a small effect like a gothic church bell.
Palace Of Light K.Leimer : Lesser Epitomes (US,2008)****
This new album by K.Leimer clearly is divided into three, well contributing to one another, parts or suites which all show different related approaches through changing perspective and the angle how to deal with available equipment and material. The first parts, called “nonadaptive layers”, seems to compare wind instruments, string orchestra and keyboards through overlapping or mixing their overtones in evolutional chords of, revealing how close in sound they are to one another. Through simple harmonic chords evolutions it is as if there exist a relationship between them on the level of sound. This evolves to tone waves. The second parts, called “nine approximations”, the chords starts to move to one another, with closer communications. This approaches and evolves also t more melody, and comes closest to the feeling of neo-classical music. The third part, “Naïve music” is much more ambient music, ambient harmonies breathing in one another.
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