Producing experimental music is often a difficult prospect. Not only do you have to worry about all the normal problems that come with making music, such as making sure it's accessible and relevant, but you also have to do it in an unconventional fashion, lest you be labelled as derivative and unoriginal. It's a tall order to produce excellent experimental music, I find that most music in the genre is both too bizarre and peculiar, or follows the same predictable patterns that have been done a thousand times before.

Tarantula, for much of their self-titled album, manage to achieve a happy balance between these two extremes, although there are brief periods when the band swings too far in one direction or the other. The group, who are based in New York, and base their music around the violin of Jamie Reeder and cellist Danny Bensi, deal in experimental chamber music rather than the dissonant heavy metal that their band name would imply, and make things interesting by giving in a vaguely Eastern European spin and feel.

The album kicks off with Rail, a relatively sedate piece of music which sets the scene and tone for the rest of the album. Backdoor Carni is where the fun begins, with the creepy, unsettling string work that opens the song, and the upbeat bassline which flows against the strings, yet creates a very interesting musical effect. Unfortunately, just when the band start moving, things are thrown into disarray with an abrupt shift that ends in a much less agreeable ambient soundscape. Things gradually pick up again so that the song ends decently, but by that point the damage is done, what could have been an excellent track has been, for the lack of a better term, butchered.

Luckily, the next two tracks, Embedded In Ice and Opening Theme manage to salvage something from the disappointment created by Backdoor Carni. Embedded In Ice, in particular, sounds as frosty as the name suggests, managing to create an eerie atmosphere over its five minute runtime, and never slipping into the realm of background mood music. Opening Theme, sounds just like its title as well, like the music played at the opening of an abstract art film. Polished electric guitar tones start the song off, and a web of percussion and strings are woven around it, in an impressive display of songwriting and technical skill.

When Tarantula are good, they can be very good. Unfortunately, they also have a tendency to veer off in disappointing directions and to murder perfectly good ideas occasionally. This album shows a band who are well on their way to forming their own distinct sound and identity, but aren't quite there yet. Still, this is an excellent debut effort from a band to watch for in the future.