Review
The title announces the terms of engagement: a "chamber concert" from the man who spent the late 1990s atomizing drum machines at impossible BPMs. On Kammerkonzert, Tom Jenkinson commits fully to orchestral writing and jazz fusion, electronics receding in favour of ensemble composition. The Quietus greeted the pivot as "an absolutely flagrant showcase for his ear and skill for composition, jazz and harmony, all while completely subverting any rules of these devices."
Critical reception split along the fault line of ambition versus novelty. Slant filed the record as "A Restatement of Purpose," conceding Jenkinson remains "a master of his craft" cycling through "yet another permutation of his signature sound," though singling out "K7 Museum" — described as Zappa-esque — for "crescendos with such compositional acuity that it borders on showstopping." Spectrum Culture was cooler: Jenkinson comes across as "bent on proving the 'intelligent' in IDM," and the orchestral move risks supplying little beyond "a veneer of avant-garde class." Far Out held firmer ground, citing the record's "crushing complexities and terse minimalism" as evidence that, twenty-one albums deep, there remain "flashes of electronic ingenuity" worth the effort of excavation.
