During the heady days of punk, concept albums were viewed as the devil's handiwork. Understandably so given the association with pomp-prog horrors from the likes of Camel, ELP & Rick Wakeman but a pity in many ways as there's nothing inherently wrong with themed albums as classics like The Who's Quadrophenia and Eno's - Music For Airports / Films proved.
Liverpool based Paul Hemmings' solo instrumental work as The Flotation Project is a further argument in favour for the preservation of the form. It's a departure from his work as guitarist with The La's and The Lightning Seeds and falls squarely into the ambient camp.
The inspiration is Hemmings' fascination with outer space and in the sleeve-notes he says "Hopefully the music will take you there - wherever there is".
The album's title and track names like 'Life On Earth', ËœAstronaut's Dreamâ„¢ and 'One Giant Step' give an accurate guide of what to expect. Although divided into 14 relatively short tracks it is best considered as a complete guitar/synth symphony.
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My personal favourites tracks are ËœLunar poles' and ËœStars Are Not Stars', but then again I'm a sucker for voice samples. The first includes audio bites from the Apollo missions while the latter opens with a child's voice (Hemmings' son?) struggling to nail Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.Â
As you might imagine the chill-out factor is high - although it's funkier and less abstract than Eno's ambient works. With its dreamy soporific qualities it shares the same territory as pieces like Kraftwerk's 'Europe Endless' or Can at their most hypnotic.
Definitely recommended listening if you've had a hard day on the planet.
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