Album: Future Sound of London

Presents Amorphous Androgynous: The Isness, FSOL/Universal

Little has been heard from the Future Sound of London since Garry Cobain and Brian Dougan's last soundscape collection, 1996's Dead Cities – after which Cobain was struck down with a mystery ailment that he became convinced was caused by the positive ions emanating from his computer, and took off around the world to visit various healers. Eventually, the source of his complaint was traced to his mercury fillings, which were accordingly replaced – but not before his Luddism had inspired a reversion to the basics of guitar, vocals and hippie sentiments that had marked his adolescence. Reunited with Dougan, Cobain developed his demo sketches into the "exotic cosmic oozescape" of The Isness, a deliberate reaction against the "linear tyranny of beat mixing" employed by most of their sampling peers. Though still containing the occasional sample, the music here was mostly performed by friends such as the guitarists Gary Lucas and Mike Rowe, the bassist Herbie Flowers and the arranger Max Richter, with the sitar-player Baluji Shrivastav especially prominent throughout. The resulting Indo-jazz fusions are as skilfully layered as previous FSOL pieces but, unlike them, conjure mostly late-Sixties comparisons: John Martyn, Donovan, the Incredible String Band and even the Doors. More hippie-ish still are Cobain's lyrics – "Where do we come from and where are we going to?" etc – that verges on the parodic. Indeed, listening to "Mello Hippo Disco Show" may well cause listeners to reconsider their opinions on some pressing matters – specifically: who was the walrus, again?