LOST IDOL (aka Brighton-based DJ/producer/label owner James Dean) had a memorable 2010. His second album ‘Brave The Elements’ was on first name terms with critical acclaim and effortlessly melded influences as seemingly disparate as Krautrock, dubstep and psychedelia. Its singles (‘A Sorrowful Thing’ and the motorik thrum of ‘Lightwerk’) were among the more intriguing electro-based outings to cross my path last year.
Striking while the iron’s hot, Dean’s already keen to re-invent himself for 2011. His new EP ‘In Time & Space’ was written specifically for a recent Lost Idol performance in London’s magnificent Union Chapel. In keeping with the vast space of the surroundings, Dean plumped for cavernous and spatial soundscapes, primarily ditching the drums in favour of something far more enigmatic.
Creatively, it’s the sound of Dean again moving forward sonically, but whether he can bring his audience with him is more debatable on this occasion. ‘In Time & Space’ lists four track titles, but in reality it’s an amorphous 17-minute mass with fragile textures rising and falling out of shadowy and elusive melodies.
The opening ‘Organswell’ is so minimal it initially sounds like it could be a John Cage cover. It gradually glides into focus like an Angler Fish illuminating the murky depths before drifting away into the second piece ‘Full of Dust & Guitars’ where an Eno-ish ambience holds sway. If it’s possible to pick a best ‘track’, it’s probably the plangent, Durutti Column-style guitar and sub-aquatic feel of the third piece ‘Hushed Strokes’ although the vast amoeboid chill of the closing title track is little more than a relentless drone.
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‘In Time & Space’ bears all the hallmarks of a ‘hardcore fans only’ release. Maybe if I’d experienced it at the Union Chapel I’d respond more positively, but in the cold light of day it’s devoid of the playfulness and invention that helped ‘Brave The Elements’ stand out and accordingly feels like a regressive step. What a pity.
Lost Idol on Myspace
Cookshop Records online
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