In his own words ERIK SCOTT'S album Other Planets falls into the ‘chill out’ category and in my opinion it does a pretty good job of it. This guy has played session licks for lots of people but that does not always translate to meaningful originals. And, with an album based around his ace base this could well have become a messy cliché. Fortunately this is staved off by a set of well constructed and well sequenced instrumental tracks.
Other Planets (Sundogs) eases us gently into the spaceship and then we are off to Proper Son where we travel through the stratosphere on a banana bass line to land on Bartalk. This place has a lovely call and response culture between bass and Hammond type organ. Peace on Saturn is beautifully evoked by John Pirruccello’s steel guitar. The boy can tickle. More guitar on Donnie and Sanehoe, acoustic this time, giving it a slightly Spanish hue and then we have Des Pues de Guerro and Bassque Revolution. Once again J.P’s steel steals the show on Des Pues while the drums up the tempo cymbalically.
Bassque Revolution is a bit of a longer workout with the drums once again pushing the track along, the whole thing more heavily instrumented than previously. Foggy Bridges illustrates perfectly Erik’s style of playing on this album. The bass is played more like a guitar and yet becomes a different instrument altogether. Bathing Maui is a great track. Maui the dog is the star of the show and amen to that!
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OK, so found sound samples are old hat but the way Maui taking a bath is integrated with the music is both clever and effective. It provides an interesting stop off point to the rest of the album, which finishes with Aliens Made Me Do This. All bass and keys over a simple kick pattern and then we’re done. This album pays with repeated listening, definitely a good sign for a chill out album. If I were to have one minor criticism it would be that it is perhaps more new age than Pink Floyd.
Erik Scott website
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