"In seven tracks and precisely one hour Peter J Woods - of whom I had never heard before - is Sucking Stones. And as the name and the title triggered many things in my mind, I started exploring the web to see if I could find out why. First, the name: I went over everything but mistook the PJW acronym for another project I had reviewed once. This was not the same person, but I did find out about Peter having a split release with my dear friend Andy, a.k.a. The Vomit Arsonist (Phage Tapes, 2009). So maybe it was something that got stuck somewhere? I don't know... It's a release I don't have, so maybe, who knows...

As for the title, I was drawn towards artists working with stones as source material. Rubbing, throwing, clicking and ticking... But no one I ever knew of ever sucked them. It meant I had to dive in and see where it came from. Turns out there is a Samuel Beckett book entitled 'Molloy' which holds a highly conceptual phrase about sucking stones. And within that phrase a mathematical problem is being posed. I think Peter worked with this phrase - recognizable as spoken word on this release - as a guide for the sound creation, but I'm not going to take all the fun for you guys, and I'll try to leave as much mystery as possible for you to find out for yourself.

The seven tracks are "Overture" and "The Problem" in three parts and "The Answer" also in three parts. Soundwise a mixture of scarcely spoken words, ambience, harsh noise and drone-like buildups. It was very well executed, had excellent dynamics and was a pleasure to listen to. At moments, a bit on the harsh side to be catalogued as 'easy listening' and, for the hardcore HNW adepts, probably too relaxed at the other moments. It makes it an intriguing release that is definitely worth listening to more than once. On his website, we find what might be the reason: "Pulling equally from the worlds of harsh noise and absurdist theatre, [Peter's] performances build a sense of terror from simple imagery, muted text and an unpredictable barrage of silence and sound."

There's a lot of information to be found directed towards the writings of Beckett and the posed mathematical problem. I lost an evening reading and exploring. And well, as I've mentioned in earlier occasions, some noise can be considered an easy form of expressive art, but at the same time, there is noise that makes you think and wonder and enrich yourself. "Sucking Stones" is definitely the latter category."-BW, Vital Weekly