Named after the only part of the Model T engine that Henry Ford supposedly found never wore out, Tansy Davies’s kingpin doesn’t so much conjure a vision of gleaming steel and laser precision, but one of grey steam and black oil, metal teeth spinning and biting, and power forced out through circular motion. Rhythms and melodies push and pull against one another, now and again finding harmony and peace. But the machines are always moving, always turning in this 6-minute work for chamber orchestra, and nothing can stay still.
'The music wheeled around at conflicting speeds, clanking, tootling and chortling away until the final upbeat ‘‘kerplunk’’. With Davies, contemporary music never lives in an airtight box. It’s out on the street, mingling with rock without ever losing the poise that stems from the right number of notes in the right place.’
The Times (Geoff Brown), 26 April 2007