Broadway Project In Finite

• Words: Christine Hsieh
• Label: Grand Central

Hardly anyone captures malaise and misanthropic tension quite as well as Dan Berridge. In Finite exceeds in cinematic scope and instrumental proficiency his deceptively dense 2003 album The Vessel, yet sheds a bit of the hazy anxiety and murky emotional underworld he so aptly depicted in his stunning 2001 debut Compassion. Less introspective and more worldly, Berridge‘s latest effort is a cleaner, more polished and, in some respects, more aggressive exploration of the shadowy sonic territory connecting jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music. Opening strong with urgent strums and ethereal bells in "K," Berridge quickly descends into a tightly packed mélange of beats, breaks, exotic instruments, and punishing bass in "Blood in the Temple" before pulling back and retreating slightly into a fog of despair, tentative hope, and pain brought to sharp and unforgiving light in "Debouch." In Finite is a remarkable album of unsurpassed beauty.