GALACTIC FURNACE

I am not sure just how many albums have been released by the trio of Steve Dinsdale (keyboards, electronics, drums), Duncan Goddard (keyboards, electronics, bass), and Gary Houghton (guitar, keyboards) since they started playing together as 16-year old students, but it must be approaching 30, of which this is their fourth collaboration with Cuneiform. Their music is largely improvised and performed live, without overdubs, gathering shape via post recording editing, and this was recorded over the course of a week, in the middle of summer, in North Yorkshire. They were lent a cottage which had plenty of natural light and air and positioned a live microphone outside on the decking to capture sound, pointing towards woodland and countryside.

It is strange to think of a natural ambience being involved, as this is an album which seems very technical and clean, almost as if it had been created in a laboratory. There are only three instrumental tracks across this double CD, with playing times of 24 minutes, 36 minutes and 60 so this is not for the fainthearted (my version also includes a radio edit of the second track, cut all the way back to 9). This is music which has been hugely influenced by Tangerine Dream and is all about creating an atmosphere and bringing the listener deep inside their world. It is not something to be played in the background but instead is to be listened to solely on headphones when there is the time to focus on this and nothing else that is going on in the world. Having this as a physical product will be of high interest to fans of the band, given they release so much music as downloads only, but I suggest that those who are new to RMI take a trek to Bandcamp and listen to this prior to purchase as it will not be to everyone's tastes.