I was unfamiliar with James Caldwell's work, but he is professor emeritus at Western Illinois University. He holds a doctorate in music from Northwestern University and lest you think that this is going to be a boring academic kind of work, it isn't (heaven knows that I have reviewed plenty of those albums though!). The concept is interesting. As Caldwell puts it, “For more than twenty years I have pursued a sporadic project of making small musique concrète pieces. The original set used sounds I made with things I found in my pockets while working in the studio—coins, keys, plastic pill bottle, comb, paperback book, rubber band, and a screwdriver struck against a wrench. (It is possible I put one or two of those things in my pocket expressly so I could find it there).” Sounds promising, so now that we have unburied the lede, let's get into the album itself.

I really enjoy the genre of sudden fiction. The concept behind this idea is that you try to create a cohesive story that's complete with an incredibly limited amount of words. Many of the stories in the genre are only a few hundred words. I think that Caldwell is drawing on the same kind of impulse with his album “Pocket Music.” Although this is broken up into seven different tracks, each of these tracks are likewise broken up into several sub tracks. Many of these tracks are less than a minute long. However these are not fragments; rather these are finely crafted miniature pieces. Indeed, this is mentioned in the liner notes of the album. He states that he found himself working with small found sounds and that “as the object became larger or farther from me the pieces remain pocket size.” I enjoyed the randomness of it. The tracks are at times delicate and peaceful, noisy and harsh, organic, heavily processed, heavily percussive. In some ways, there is something for everyone on this album – just wait a minute until the next one if you don’t like one. The closest comparison that comes to mind is Hafler Trio. Very well done. This album weighs in at around 45 minutes.