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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's a long walk through lonley plains...., 2 May 2004
The crows and white noise swirl which open this, the fourth Banco De Gaia album, hint at it's more ambient nature than some of the earlier and later LPs.Fans of Toby Marks' more upbeat work won't be completely disappointed, and "Drippy" is a stunning opener. This is about as close to a 'typical' Banco De Gaia track as you can get - echoed water drips and drops provide the skeleton for what builds into a 128 bpm dance beat, accompanied by a chugging bassline and wrapped in a lush, swirling choral sample. Just when you think it couldn't get any better, Marks unleashes a stunningly beautiful lead vocal sample which is guaranteed to raise goose bumps. The church bell at the start of "Celestine" gives way to a steady reggae beat and dub bassline which is quickly complemented by a couple of jazzy sax solos courtesy of Dick Parry and Matt Jenkins. Although there's an obvious Pink Floyd influence here, Marks once again wraps it up completely in his own sound. "Drunk As A Monk" is another chugging, dancey track punctuated by a bubbling electro bass line and riddled with wonderful samples, and a popular live favourite. From here the album moves into a more down tempo, ambient mood. "Big Men Cry" ventures into Deep Forest territory, featuring a melodic string solo played over a steady drum machine beat. "Gates Does Windows" is a cheeky 35 second audio joke and leads into "One Billion Miles Out", an ambient string and choral piece which features some slow ethnic percussion at the back end of the track. Finally, "Starstation Earth" is a 20 minute ambient epic which builds slowly to an (all to brief) drum and bass / dub style ending. Although "Big Men Cry" starts with great promise in the form of "Drippy", and each track has its individual merits, the end result is never quite the sum of the parts. Perhaps one for ambient lovers / diehard fans / completists only.
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