Threnody Ensemble, Timbre Hollow

In the overcrowded post-rock marketplace, large numbers of musicians swill around in the wake of inadvertent scene catalysts Slint and Rodan, making music for love and little reward, which makes criticism seem mean-spirited and post-rock an austere business.

In their native US, Threnody Ensemble share a label with John Cage and Terry Riley, which highlights their neo/contemporary-classical ambitions; here they are the debut release on a new label launched by Barry Hogan, the promoter of the innovative festival All Tomorrow's Parties. ATP has done much to illustrate the diversity of music outside the rock mainstream. Timbre Hollow, however, is a frustratingly average record: not actually bad, not without moments of charm, just almost entirely without surprise. In its favour, it does generate an organic warmth, and the artful plucking of guitars and humming of cellos is rarely unpleasant.

After a while, though, there is the mild nausea of being part way through an enormous bowl of bran.