The all new Nurse With Wound studio album presented in a lavish digipak format contains one of the most radical pieces the band have ever recorded; similar in concept to Gavin Bryars' The Sinking of the Titanic . Salt Marie Celeste delves even deeper into the theme of dropping into unknown darkness and ultimate demise. Recorded by Steven Stapleton and electronic wizard Colin Potter in 2002. This is a landmark recording in the field of contemporary electronic music. Artwork by Ruby Wallis and Babs Santini. For those who either missed or were unable to get the Horse Hospital CD release last year, the Nurse With Wound contribution, "Salt," has now basically been expanded. In its original 60+ minute form, the music pretty much played as a loop for the entire duration. The sound waved back and forth between two chords, providing a cold and creepy feeling of ship being lost at sea. The purpose for the original work was originally to provide aural ambience to the art exhibit at the Horse Hospital gallery. With this version, efforts have been made to make this more of a foreground-listening experience, but there's honestly not much else added. Along with the fluctuating orchestral-like chords, other loops are added bit by bit, including sounds that resemble a passing car, a boat horn, piano, creaking boards, and a creaky door. At around the 50-minute mark, all extraneous sounds taken out, leaving the sound of water. Eventually the water fades out, leaving only the droning two chords. Effects fade off shortly thereafter and the drone eventually dies. NWW fans expecting something dense and maximalistic like An Awkward Pause will probably not enjoy this album as much as fans of the droning NWW heard on albums like Soliloquoy for Lilith or A Missing Sense.

Jon Whitney