The latest CD releases reviewed
BICKLEY O'FARRELL
All Your Life/Sweet Love
Psychonavigation
***
While the All Your Life/Sweet Love mini-album is certainly a meeting of veteran musical minds, it's perhaps most noteworthy for containing Fergus O'Farrell's first studio recordings in an age. In fact, not since the self-titled album from Interference appeared in 1995 has O'Farrell's majestic, soulful, hypnotic voice appeared on a disc. It's taken Hyperborea co-founder and Still Rivers at Night creator David Bickley to draw the cult singer into a studio again for this session. But with just two tracks and a couple of remixes, "mini-album" may be stretching the descriptive template a little. Given O'Farrell's lengthy absence from the studio, it's hugely frustrating to see a gallery of remixers hogging the limelight instead of that great voice. While Chris Coco, Electric Penguins and friends certainly do embellish Bickley's sinewy, tough grooves and O'Farrell's evocative voice, it's really the new tracks rather than remixes that most listeners will want to hear. www.psychonavigation.com
THE BLACK DOG
Book of Dogma
Soma
****
There are some electronic gems that never go out of fashion, as this clear-out of The Black Dog's kennel shows. Previously available largely only on vinyl and long out of circulation, the tracks on the two-CD Book of Dogma still display the smarts and imagination that made the Dog trio such a groundbreaking entity in the first place. On a track such as Virtual, for instance, it's the melancholic atmospherics they wring from the drums and grooves that catch the ear. Then there was the outfit's ability to turn out a melody like the one underpinning Seer & Sages, where it's the simplicity of the arrangement and construction that knocks you sideways. These days, the original trio have gone their separate ways (Ed Handley and Andy Turner now operate as Plaid, while Ken Downie has recruited some new members to work under the old moniker), but, as Book of Dogma shows, their early work still casts one hell of a shadow.
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