Album: Lemon Jelly

'64-'95, XL

The title refers not to any putative lifespan of Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen's tenure as Lemon Jelly, but to the date range of the samples around which they've built the album's nine tracks, usually one per piece - from whatever is behind the William Shatner recitation featured in "'64 aka Go", to the Terri Walker vocal sample employed in "'95 aka Make Things Right". Like previous Lemon Jelly releases, it demands a certain patience on the listener's part, which is not exactly repaid with sufficient interest to justify the exercise, most pieces neglecting any kind of narrative musical development in favour of the slowly swelling accretions familiar from the past decade and a half of house music. "Only Time", for instance, opens with a single keyboard chord that is then fitted out with a routine drum programme and fattened up by the incremental addition of acoustic guitar, treated vocals, backward samples, etc, at rigid intervals. Despite the mass of sounds, the track remains static, spinning its wheels beneath the weight without shifting appreciably from its starting point. Much the same applies to the other tracks. Indeed, the only time a piece supports itself adequately without the accompanying DVD animation is "'75 aka Stay With You", in which the Gallagher & Lyle source sample is a strong enough melody to carry the repetition.