The Construkction of Light

By the release of the construKction of light, longtime members Bill Bruford, who debuted with the band for 1973's Larks' Tongues in Aspic, and bassist Tony Levin, who joined in 1981, had left King Crimson. The departure of both members brought an end to the "double trio" era of the band and marked their return to a quartet: Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto. Fripp was now both the last remaining member from any lineup prior to 1981, and the only Englishman left in the band.

Musically, the album bears a sound similar the 1980s lineup, with Mastelotto primarily playing e-drums and Belew, Gunn and Fripp often playing sophisticated, interlocking parts, with Belew and Fripp often utilizing overdriven guitar tones. However, the pace of these interlocking parts is often slower than in the '80s, with Belew and Fripp often trading just single notes back and forth in hocket. As such, it presents a different twist on the gamelan approach of the '80s era.

The album also harks back to previous eras, presenting sequels to old pieces. "Larks' Tongues in Aspic – Part IV" continues a series of instrumental pieces forming a cross-album suite, primarily recalling motifs from part II. "FraKctured" began as a fifth entry in the "Larks" suite, but was later in the process considered closer "in lineage" to "Fracture", the final track from 1974's Starless and Bible Black, and thus renamed.[1]

Fripp is unhappy with the album, considering that it "doesn't convey the power of the music, to a greater extent than any of the [King Crimson] studio albums", feeling it hampered by the conditions on which it was made: none of the music was played live before it was recorded, Mastelotto not using his preferred hybrid acoustic/electronic kit, Fripp's attention being focused on writing and playing over recording and production. A "re-assembling" of the album with live recordings instead of a normal reissue was an option considered by Discipline Global Mobile.[2] In 2019, a substantial reworking of the album was released as The ReconstruKction of Light, as parts of the original recording were found to be lost. In particular, Pat Mastelotto re-recorded the drum parts for each song.[3] The remix of "FraKctured" was released as part of the KC50 series, serving as a preview of the full release. David Singleton's commentary is underscored by the remix of "The World's My Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum". [4]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
PopMatters	[6]

AllMusic wrote that the band "fall flat with The ConstruKction of Light [...] Unable to shed the weight of their oft-brilliant history, the most promising moments of ConstruKction are crushed underneath the bulk. What makes ConstruKction such a disappointment is, despite how 'progressive' the band-fragmenting ProjeKct approach appeared on paper, upon execution, it produced an utterly backward-looking album."[5]

All lyrics by Adrian Belew. All music by Belew, Robert Fripp, Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto.

• Robert Fripp – guitar, keyboards
• Adrian Belew – guitar, vocals
• Trey Gunn – Ashbory bass, Warr guitar
• Pat Mastelotto – drums, percussion

• The Construkction of Light at Discogs (list of releases)
• Lyrics