About

A hard-to-describe hybrid of post-minimalist classical, new-new age, and electro-acoustic, Things You Already Know also incorporates things you didn't know could make such interesting music: propane tank drums, bowed psalteries, and singing bowls, matched with more traditional instruments like cello and piano, in a sonic shake-up that's unexpectedly resonant. The musicians themselves are a diverse mix, with members of the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra playing alongside counterparts from the alternative Twin City rock bands, Zoo Animal and Aaron & the Sea.

Campbell's inspiration came from what he calls absorption - "That metaphysical equals sign (=) where there's no separation between self and other, inner and outer, general and particular," he says in the liner notes. And there's quite a bit of audile absorption to be experienced here, particularly in the two provocative tracks, "Lord Byron" and "Torso of a Bodhisattva."

Be ready to land in uncharted musical territory, where it's best to just take it all in. The tumultuous "Lord Byron" combines dissonance and displacement with a surprising sweep of neo-Romanticism (the Byron connection?), along with touches of psychedelia that reminded me of some chaotic notes from The Beatles' "A Day in the Life." – Seattle PI