Chronotope Project: Kaleidoscope
Spotted Peccary Music

While one doesn't doubt Jeffrey Ericson Allen's claim that his seventh Chronotope Project release on Spotted Peccary “is a wide-angle look back across four decades of my composing life,” it's not entirely clear whether Kaleidoscope is a compilation gathering together earlier recorded material or pieces newly produced that highlight the stages of his project's evolution and the abundance of styles explored during that time. The absence of recording dates does little to clarify matters; however, the fact that six of the eleven tracks are labeled remixes suggests that they were written earlier and now appear here in recently recorded guises.

Regardless, said lack of clarity doesn't lessen one's appreciation for the high quality of the music and presentation. The Eugene, Oregon-based Allen is one of those classic multi-instrumentalists who possesses a command as a producer and player that's, in a word, staggering. The release might be dedicated to Allen's cello teachers, but the instrument's merely one of many utilized in these productions. Add to that Allen's remarkable stylistic command and the result's music of inordinately strong quality. Acoustic and electronic elements converge seamlessly, their arrangement always used in service towards achieving the goal conceived for a given piece. While there are, of course, ambient meditations, there are also tracks that take surprising turns into folk, instrumental rock, Indian music, and even jazz. What helps unify a release so stylistically broad is the superior quality of the writing, arranging, and execution.

This so-called “sonic autobiography of Allen's creative journey” starts with a striking foray into pastoral folk of the kind Mike Oldfield perfected on Ommadawn and Hergest Ridge; one could even go so far as to say that Allen's “Ariadne's Thread” (with a little help from acoustic steel string guitarist C. Forrest McDowell) distills the essence of those two classics into a transfixing four minutes. The spell deepens when flute joins the shimmering tapestry of guitars, strings, and acoustic piano Allen so deftly and harmoniously blends. With hand drum percussion giving it a subtle gamelan tinge, “Medicine Wheel” gravitates more in an ambient direction when atmospheric whooshes, gentle keyboard patterns, and lustrous synthesizer textures evoke a sprawling landscape and even perhaps the image of a camels-led caravan trudging across it. Another dramatic turn's taken with the advent of the brooding, post-rock-styled “Enigma” and its drums-powered (courtesy of Bill Black) attack and cinematic sweep.

“Zikr Dance” sees Chronotope Project flirting with classical and World music when strings (pizzicato and bowed) and calliope-styled keyboards fuse into a rousing, high-energy allegro. Nocturnal mystery permeates “Erda (Raga of the Earth Remix)” when a sinuous, flute-like element undertakes a serpentine, melismatic journey, a gently droning backdrop its partner. A similar narcotized quality pervades “Dance of the Raven Man,” with this time a caw-like accent distancing it from the other pieces, until the tempo abruptly accelerates and the piece becomes a feverish, percussion-and-flute-powered hoedown. As the album's end nears, Allen's expressive cello artistry elevates the poignant, strings-heavy lament “Longing” before the peaceful “Clear Bell Ringing in Empty Sky” offers one final terrific demonstration of Allen's gift for vivid scene-painting.

July 2026