Darkroom - Assembly House, Norwich, 6th December 2002

It's down to the duo formation of Darkroom - the furthest-out and most introverted of tonight's performers - to start that hopefully infinite curve a-curving. Neat and serenely withdrawn, Mike Bearpark builds up a discreet, thorny hedge of dense textural guitar; while attentive electronics wizard Os continually listens, bushy-bearded head cocked slightly, sliding long arms out to a keyboard or a technology pod to trigger in dubby ripples of sound colour. Alternatively, he could be mixing in a moment of menacing fuzz, distant electric noise, or an unidentifiable found voice plucked out of the air for a moment. Darkroom's improvisations sound like alien radio - signals afloat on an oceanic and cosmic noise, with both Bearpark and Os acting as elusive melody conduits as well as sonic distorters. In some respects, they've taken up Fripp + Eno's baton, but they're far further off the map. Somewhere between the looming drapery of Fripp's latterday Soundscapes with the deconstructive interference-textures of Main - never less than absorbing, as they munch their starfood.

Dann Chinn