The first time I heard this album I was driving through the Fens in the early hours of the morning. Long lush strings against reverberant and persistent electronic rhythm patterns, with a mix of synth and sound effects and the odd deeply spoken dialogue, emanated from my car stereo. Far from giving me a feeling of tranquillity, it spooked the pants off me!
This album takes the listener on a journey through intense, horror movie/thriller-type music, which moves on to relaxed, emotional moods and superimposes contrasting military-style snare drum rhythms. There's a certain amount of orchestral instruments (oboe in Motive and Hallucinations?), plus more narration (Paper Desert, Byzantium, The Golden Journey and Touched With Fire), plenty more synth ideas and even some French singing (Hallucinations? and Blue Lovers).
What all seems like a bit of a hotch-potch is held together by a single theme: the self-destructive nature of the creative artist. Yep, pretension abounds, but given that these boys (Nigel and Klive Humberstone) have been around a long time - In The Nursery was formed in 1981 - producing albums and film and trailer soundtracks and touring both small clubs and major festivals in Europe, it's clear that they haven't just jumped on the 'ambient' bandwagon. Unlike a lot of such acts, theirs is music with substance; it's both peaceful and exciting.
Although I haven't found a use for it yet, other than making my journey home from work (yes, I do work that late!) more of a thrill.
SM