Veda Hille – Return of the Killdeer / 2007 Ape House / 18 Tracks / http://www.vedahille.com / http://www.ape.uk.net / Reviewed 16 May 2007

Very few artists are able to come up with 18 different approaches to wow listeners with on their CD. Veda Hille does just that with eir “Return of the Kildeer”. The very calm and sedate opening track “A Fine Start” is just that. “Queen of the May” adds a little bit of percussion to the mix. It is not as if these Spartan compositions do not have enough meat to them, but rather that the wide open spaces present during a number of the tracks on “Return of the Kildeer” force listeners to hang on Hille’s each and every word, until that time where vocals come back into prominence.

The much more ambient second half of “Queen of the May” provides individuals with yet another path with which to go down; while this is but a brief interlude, it is only a short time before Hille is on eir “Bedlam!”. “Bedlam!” starts in a much more percussive vein than any of the prior tracks on “Return of the Kildeer”. The presence of slightly higher register percussion at points are high points in what just feels like a more brooding and dark composition. There are hints of vocals at times during the early part of the track, but it is only when the vocals fully kick in that individuals are treated to a fuller sound. “Bedlam!” s one of the longest tracks on the disc (only bowing down in that regard to “Bad Heart”), and the storytelling ability of Hille is something that is given ample room to stretch its legs owing to that extra time.

The high point of the first half of “Return of the Kildeer” has to be “Where Am I From?”. During this track, there are two distinct harmonies that are striving for dominance; that provided by Hille eirself and that provided by the instrumentation on the track. While there are a number of a convergence points during this track, the differences between these two harmonies pushes each to be the best possible harmony it can be. Overall, this is another solid album by Ape House. The number of tracks that could conceivably make it onto radio as singles is high, and even more pleasing is the sheer ability of Hille to craft tracks that are disparate in sound but are still able to contribute to the larger disc as a whole. Pick it up if you can find it.

Top Tracks: Bad Heart, Coerce

Rating: 7.1/10

[JMcQ]