Collections of Colonies of Bees

From the vanguard of Milwaukee's musical alchemy scene comes the latest brainchild of percussionist Jon Mueller and guitarist Chris Rosenau, a collaborative effort of playful droning and epic meanderings that bury the airy connotations of experimental music beneath fuzzy guitar attacks and resonating grit.

Somewhat-restrained experimentation and just-enough indulgence allow all four tracks to take flight. A steady pulse brings each back to the ground, offering gobs of backbone and sufficient ebb and flow to make even the most cerebral passages sound not only listenable, but, in their own way, rocking. But mainly Birds flutters like a sailing, soaring, imaginative dreamscape that would probably sound most at home behind an inspired Michel Gondry sequence.