Once again we cover another Keith Kelly release, and this one certainly is a 'Departure' from his work with Ask Not. He calls it "speculative music" as in literature "speculative fiction" covers a number of different genres. Kelly doesn't confine himself instrumentally to woodwinds on 'Departure'; keyboard synths (and perhaps other instruments as well) are employed taking this well out of the jazz realm. It opens with "Accidnetal Apolcalypse," an almost ambient piece with filtered resonant synth chords and note noodling. (It should be mentioned that Keith says the album is made of sounds and ideas relating to an imaginary story about his kids accidentally causing the earth to explode, and what happens in the time immediately after and in the near-future.) "Looking Out Into the Vastness" we might see desolation but we hear woodwind drone...lots of woodwind drone. More intense electronic drones are to be found "In the Dust of the Planet" and this is the spaciest track so far. "New Strange Economies" offers mellow woodwind drones that morph into the wailing of strange birds. Didn't care much for "And Then it Was" with repeated verbalization of the title and a scatter-clatter rhythm with a melancholy wail in the background. The woodwind work on "If Only He Were Here With Us Now" is abrasive and off-putting. A lot of this just didn't work for me. "Hideous Comfort" came as a relief after that but I think only about half of it worked. "A Short History of Long Goodbyes" is kind of a scattershot bright synth fantasia and "The Roar of Yesterdays" sounds like somebody left a heavy object on the sampling keyboard with the phase shifter left on full. A real noise piece.

I was not nearly as impressed with 'Departure' as I was with 'Out of Hope, We Remember,' though they are completely different musical forms. I think 'Departure' is a collection of ideas in search of a musical meaning, but for me, just didn't find one. Some good ideas, and some not so good ones.