David First likes to use the phrase "the virtuosity of slowness" to describe his musical philosophy. In The Consummation of Right and Wrong, he and his eight-piece ensemble, The Western Enisphere, practice this virtuosity to great effect in closely examining the universes that fall between the cracks of convention, reflecting a wide continuum of complex relationships, all the while creating music that is simply ravishing to listen to. This is "drone music" as dynamic organism, moving from compact and ruminative to spacious and serene and back. In this triple-CD, two-and-half-hours of sonic tessellation, First has alchemized his own personal opposites like never before, combining and transmuting his free-jazz experience with avant-legend Cecil Taylor, his influential noise-rock n' roll band Notekillers, his long-abiding love for minimalist, mathematical excavation on dozens of instruments, and a highly refined ear for pop-melodic architectures into a singular, epic set of vibrational possibilities that leaves very few stones unturned in his ongoing quest for the resolution of all extremes.

"The process blurs science and shamanism, with results that are utterly mesmerizing. Stated simply, Consummation is among the most important recordings that will appear this year. But its significance is worn lightly, and never outweighs the pure mental, spiritual, and physiological succor of the sounds First and his players produce." — Steve Smith