A.M. Architect - The Road To The Sun [Album]

Exponential

Lounge and chill out tunes for the masses. This is sunbathing music at its finest, something you would hear on a "Chilled Ibiza" or "Chill Anthems" compilation album. Refreshing, inspiring and bloody cool. Zero 7, Moorcheba, Portishead, Boards Of Canada fans will be wetting themselves over A.M. Architect. Ambient electronica is simply the dogs balls when it is produced at this level.

'The Road To The Sun' does just that, it is like a trip to the unknown. Unknown in a good way, you want to get there and this music is a tour guide. Getting lost in a arrangement of break-beats, glockenspiel delay tingles and glitchy samples. The bass has that particular sound that Morcheeba achieve that is so hard to describe. Kind of distorted, dull and ill. Yet it still creates a happy environment, using only short patterns throughout the tracks.

Each song is picturesque, it's not hard to close your eyes and imagine the sun beating down on your pale english skin with that holiday smell. This is the sort of album that reminds you of a time, a kind of soundtrack to a happy moment in your life. The only down side is there is no real stand out song, they are all as equals in an island of chillout.

Track eight "Upon", has an Ultre vibe to it, using an acoustic melody being jerked around in a mixing bowl. There are no real vocals in the album, just moments of scratched samples and a kind of talking/chanting slightly in the background, a lot like Boards Of Canada's material. 'Gave Me Love' has a sample to die for, "You Gave Me Love" sung by a female vocalist, simplistic and very effective.

For those with a chilled out palette, 'The Road To The Sun' could well be the soundtrack to the summer of '09!