Ecovillage - The Quest And That Magic Summer
[Unsigned]

With My Bloody Valentine's recent revival pushing shoegaze back under the limelight, it's only natural that a fresh slew of noise-makers will start vying to inherit a support slot. One of the more noteworthy additions to the lengthening queue is Ecovillage, a two-man continental venture who spice up their droning with tinges of trip-hop and some luminous programming. Their press release puts them in Sweden, but stylistically, they're a couple of communes across from Boards Of Canada, obviously both keen students of both Kevin Shields and sci-fi sets: lyrics float like seaspray through hazy warm cordial, while background computers unite to create an atmosphere more ethereal than Kirsty Hawkshaw. What was that Bond film where the maniac wanted to blow up the icecaps and start a new planet under the sea? If he'd have got his way, this would be the first CD he'd waterproof and rip to his hard disk.

Whether or not this record for you seems to hinge somewhat on your capacity to remain comfortably stoned for an hour. That's not to say it's Beanbag FM, and by and large things unfold like Porn Sword Tobacco with aurora in place of radio mulch (and song titles to rival a Trancemaster pressing). 'Celebration Over The Oceans' takes Ulrich Schnauss' 'On My Own' and swamps it with reverse reverb, while 'Until You Fly Away' flutters down like a ticket stub from 'Go Hawaii' by Casino Versus Japan: all blue skies and tropical photons. The soft textures don't guarantee unequivocal chill-out, though; in fact, listening to all fifteen tracks in one wallop presents you with a garish scorch of evaporated synths that only becomes clear once your retinas have contracted.

In some places the songs are smeared almost indistinguishably - the ambient tide of 'You Will Find A Horn In The Garden', 'Ray Of A Thousand Summers'' dolphin harmonics and Candyflip beat, or the jazzy mirage that freezes into stalagtites on 'All The Colors Speak Of You' (these are track titles, by the way, not Tai Chi manoeuvers). The moments that sparkle do so brightly, however, and the high points of the experience stand out like x-rayed barium. 'One Wish Remains' is unmuddied to the point where it's almost a single, the mixer hushed down to make the vocals less squiffy, and 'Born Again' is wisely used as a worthwhile finale, blurring keys into an ozone glow.

Like a lot of similarly fluid records, 'The Quest And That Magic Summer' does have its time and its place - probably coming home alone and sober to reflect on a stuffed city. If there's a corduroy/vegan conspiracy sewn into the album's subtext then so be it, because there's definitely more to this disc as a whole than just Enigma's 'Return To Innocence' being syphoned through a wormhole. When it's in full flight things skylark serenely from your speakers, a slow potion stirring like 'Loveless' coming off the bromide, and Ecovillage sound a lot clearer on playback than they do described on paper: a duo blessed with boyband looks and a keen ear for spaceboy floatation.

Tracklisting:

1. Until You Fly Away
2. We Enjoyed Heaven Together
3. Summer Of Love
4. Forever Blazing Skies
5. Celebration Over The Oceans
6. You Will Find A Horn In The Garden
7. Horizons And Beyond
8. All The Colors Speak Of You
9. Rays Of A Thousand Summers
10. In All Spirits
11. See You On The Other Side
12. One Wish Remains
13. Cosmic Shorelines
14. Hail The Sun
15. Born Again