The Chemical Brothers
Further Parlophone
Each of the eight tracks on this release has an accompanying video - which is kind of unnecessary. Because Further is a soundtrack to life - it draws you in so much the rest of the world becomes background noise.
The videos are a sideshow. No pictures are goingto further enhance your enjoyment of this album, on which the songs melt into one another with a mix of styles that travel from a state of blissed-out relaxation through rock-heavy riffs to pounding basslines and dancefloor ecstasy. Get the picture?
The first track, Snow, opens transmission with feedback and a series of beeps like a message coming in from another world, adding seldom-used vocals and building up to the album's most stunning moment - the 12-minute Escape Velocity. If Further is a journey, this track is the highlight of the trip - rising and falling with electronic fury.
The rest of the album was never going to match that strong start but it does its best to give you a luxurious aural bath you'll never want to get out of. 5/5
