Well I’ve had a couple of listens now and it’s fair to say that I think I really like it. My reaction so far can be summed up by the following.
First listen = “What the hell was that?”
Second listen = “Wow, awesome.”
On first listen it’s very definitely a bit much, it comes at you from a direction you don’t quite expect. On second listen it’s all started to make a bit more sense and I can really appreciate that this album will take a long time to digest.
Stand out tracks so far are Biko, Signs and Zephyrus. Signs has the best glockenspiel in music ever. Zephyrus somehow manages to sound like something from Final Fantasy VIII and get away with it.
This is definitely one for the good headphones and a bit of a chin stroke.
(Check out my claim for the best glockenspiel in music ever at myspace.)