The title track opens with a very stylish air, with slow synthscapes and subtle effects preceding acoustic guitar (the real variety). The track slowly musters its resources, carefully developing themes before presenting a very contemporary and playful melody which has an infectious air and simplistic flourish. ‘Glide Slope’ is a drifting collage of sounds underpinned by a repetitively understated bass rhythm. ‘Auroville’ is a more structured episode with a strident theme and complementary motif detail which brought to mind John Dyson. Track 4 ‘Dokann’ again adopts a laid back approach to present understated themes with subtle detail. ‘Return of the Stardancer II’ ups the tempo with a busy and insistent beat which soon becomes the basis for Schulzian synthplay. The final track, and longest at 16:08, is ‘The Last Monument’. Again a slow build-up is the order of the day before the sequences are unleashed at the 7 minute mark, and this is a fine piece indeed to close the album. Overall this album does its job well, though I must admit that competition is tough at the moment and I did find my attention drifting to other delights queuing to bask under the CD laser. (GG)
