Graveyard Mountain Home

Listening to the projects that Kevin Moore has recorded on his own under the name Chroma Key, you'd never guess that he's a former member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Graveyard Mountain Home, in particular, sounds more like a twisted collaboration between Gabor Csupo and Muslimgauze than anything else you're likely to hear on the Inside Out label. The shape of the music was inspired by a strange "social guidance" film from the 1950s that Moore discovered; he slowed it down to half speed and stripped out the soundtrack, then used its surreal action as a guiding structure for the music, which at times is funky in a glitchy, herky-jerky sort of way ("YYY," "Before You Started") and at others is dark and meditative ("Mother's Radio," "True and Lost"). There are several songs, in the relatively traditional sense, such as the gorgeous and aptly titled "Sad Sad Movie," and a few tracks are accompanied by found-sound voices, but the focus is always on the music and the mood. The result is a surprisingly affecting and powerful work. Highly recommended.