While Jim O'Rourke's chequered history has included stints with American indie heroes Sonic Youth and Gastr Del Sol to name but a few, it's all rapidly beginning to look like a dress rehearsal for his blossoming solo career. His 1999 album Eureka was a quiet revelation to the few who heard it and this belated follow-up is another great leap forward for the Chicago maverick. It's best described as tuneful rock music with a light touch and unexpected trimmings such as cornets and flamencos, rounded off with startlingly acerbic lyrics. Insignificance clocks in at a disappointingly measly seven tracks but what it lacks in quantity it certainly makes up for in the quality of its ideas. Could this radio-friendly album actually propel the quintessential outsider into the mainstream? Stranger things have happened.
