ArkCooking Vinyl ****

Known primarily for his role in the cult band Dead Can Dance, London-born, Anglo-Irish musician Brendan Perry has diligently cut his cloth to suit his means. Recorded in his

Co Cavan studio but reaching out sonically to the ends of the earth, his second solo album is, in Perry’s own words, “a neutral electronic soundscape”. No argument with that, but “neutral” certainly doesn’t mean either bland or generic. Lyrically, Perry touches on topics as serious as conflict in the Middle East, political corruption, our continuing ecological breakdown and the downside of social networking. That he tackles such subjects is interesting enough, but Perry also weaves in impressive swirls of electronica that subtly, beautifully reference many countries. See brendan-perry. com

Download tracks: Wintersun, Utopia, Crescent