language barrier is jeff mcilwain's first album for hymen records since his iron city full length, released in 2002. (not including the 3" cd contribution for the travel sickness box set or the condensed singles compilation). here, mcilwain explores his ambient side to a fuller extent than in any of his previous releases. beautiful chord structures melt with excerpts from his huge archive of field recordings. characteristic layers and treatments are mostly kept together by a metric structure accented with subtle rhythms. 'jetstream', for example, gets this structure from a sample-and-hold-like-treatment - restrained, but still very sonically detailed.