Philadelphia psychedelic rockers Make a Rising supply zany and digressive compositions on Rip Through the Hawk Black Night, an album which manages to persuasively combine power and whimsy. Cooing vocals are set against bumptious piano licks, discordant electronics, and animated drumming in the psych-calliope ambiance of "Look at My Hawk." "Song for Dead Nickie" is equally filled with diverse excursions, but its introduction is imparted with a graceful post-minimal sheen that belies the band's prevailing penchant for jocularity. "When Moving West" sets a chamber pop vocal loop against chaotic heavy rock, whereas "I'm Scared of Being Alone" adopts an affecting prog rock demeanor.

In its first section, "Plastic Giant" creates a wall of complex sustained harmony, over which is placed reverberant, discordant singing; this is succeeded by a Zappa-esque freak out of an instrumental coda. Sometimes, the band's use of juxtapositions is a bit too cute - the thwack of noise rock in the middle of the otherwise gentle "Lonesome in the Skiff" is a prime example; but usually their employment of head-turning style shifts work quite nicely. Some pieces even function in a more conventional sense; "Expired Planet," a concoction of Sun Ra Arkestra cosmology and indie rock guitars, is a strong song, demonstrating that Make a Rising is never so obsessed with eccentricity that they can't make memorable music along the way. - Christian Carey