John Foxx Cathedral Oceans

Firstly, thanks to Ray Hodgson for bringing this album to my attention. I've been the lucky owner of a copy of this masterpiece for quite a while now. As soon as I heard it I alerted Dave Law to be on the look-out, knowing it just had to be offered to smd's members. As ever Dave came up trumps. And before you ask, yes this is the John Foxx of 'Underpass'/ 'Metamatic' fame. The music is I suppose best described as Space Music, but somehow that term just doesn't do this justice. This albums moved me more than just about anything I've heard since Kiraly & Crevier's 'Calypso'. Some of the tracks feature expansive waves of synth textures, while others feature echoed voice treated with major amounts of delay. When the two are combined the elements collide like a huge chasm of sounds which hits you like a velvet tidal wave. Some parts, for example the opening of 'Shifting Perspective', are reminiscent of the vocal treatments at the start of 'Rubycon Part 1'. Others, perhaps inevitably, nod in the direction of Gregorian chant ala Enigma. Apparently though this album has been in the can 10 years or more, so forget any preconceptions of bandwagon jumping. The title of track 8 'Infinite in All Directions' is as good a description as I can come up with. The music is immense, the whole thing almost collapses under the weight of its own brilliance. If you are a Space Music fan this is simply unmissable. Benchmarks in a genre don't appear very often, but here's one of 'em. (GG).

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