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Release Date: 1999

Label: Emperor Jones

Nigel Bunn is a shadowy figure from the periphery of New Zealand's underground music scene; until now his output has been limited to a couple of tracks on obscure compilation albums. He's better known in Dunedin, his hometown, as a polymath who paints, photographs, makes experimental films, and helps organize art exhibits. Index is culled from years of varied musical experiments. The title track is a stirring fanfare for a looped piano phrase overlaid with distant trumpets. Several paradoxically tranquil pieces are woven from threads of guitar feedback. Others feature percolating antique electronics. Two sullen organ interludes impart an aura of dread, but Bunn's recitations of fragmentary texts in a filtered and sped-up voice are the most disorienting element of all. The album is deftly sequenced so that its disparate elements flow together like a surreal film that one could watch many times without extracting all of its secrets. (Bill Meyer)