Here is the type of sentence that some listeners -- specifically, the ones with short attention spans -- absolutely hate to hear about an album: "this CD cannot be fully absorbed on the first listen, but it reveals more and more of its charms with each listen." People with short attention spans expect instant gratification, and the fact is that more complex and involved music -- be it something by Charles Mingus, Ludwig van Beethoven or Tangerine Dream -- tends to offer delayed gratification. And delayed gratification is exactly what one can expect from this self-titled album by Germany's Von Spar, who favor experimental, free-form art rock. This 39-minute CD consists of two extended tracks (the 22-minute "Xaxapoya" and the 17-minute "Dead Voices in the Temple of Error"), and neither of them adhere to a standard verse/chorus/verse/chorus structure. Both tracks have a lot of intriguing twists and turns; if Von Spar are eerie and spacy one minute, they might become more aggressive the next. And that lack of predictability and willingness to shift gears and change moods is a big part of the fun on this album. Without a doubt, Von Spar can be self-indulgent; when you're dealing with more experimental music, self-indulgence goes with the territory. But Von Spar are not self-indulgent to the point of becoming boring; even when they occasionally drop the ball, they don't take long to pick it up -- and while both "Xaxapoya" and "Dead Voices in the Temple of Error" are slightly uneven, the ups by far exceed the downs on this 2007 release. ~ Alex Henderson