BATH

I've often heard people talk about albums in terms of how they take them to a certain place in their minds, transport them if you will, and apply this only to the most highly regarded and, for them, successful albums. I'll be honest and say that I have no idea what they are on about. Well, I had no idea before I bought this, maudlin of the Well's Bath, partnered with Leaving Your Body Map, which does exactly that. Listening to it (and Leaving Your Body Map) almost always takes me to a place in my mind where I am totally immersed in the music, an experience that I don't think I could even attempt to convey into words. What I will try to convey is how it got me there. This album is a huge step up from the impressive debut my Fruit Psychobells... a Seed Combustible, by making a huge step up in the composition of the songs, which wasn't exactly lacking on that first album anyway. There's a maturity that comes across here in the bleak yet relaxing atmosphere that gets punctuated by moments of savage power from the death metal inspired sections, bringing a whole new meaning to the song title They aren't all Beautiful.

The only flaw to this near perfect album is the inclusion of Uncovering the Gift. Those of you that have the 2006 remasters with the enhanced liner notes will know that Uncovering the Gift was one of Toby Drivers very first recordings way back in the early- to mid- 90's and such has the production quality you would expect from a basement recording of that time, i.e. dreadful. Despite the fact that it clearly possesses many of the hallmarks that would be hugely developed in the proceeding years, its serves to bring me back from my place with a bump and just brakes up the flow of the end of the album, a great shame. The best songs on here are Heaven and Weak (a truly amazing song), The Ferryman, Girl with a Watering Can and Birth Pains of Astral Projection. This album is a must for any fan of truly experimental music.