MOOCH 
405352
CDR
FLIGHT OF THE DUB VOYAGER (CDR)

CLASSIC (AMBIENT)

‘Flight Of The Dub Voyager’ is something from the Mooch archives, namely this full-length album recorded in 1996. It comprises of a single fifty-seven minute track split into 12 sub-sections. It was recorded over two sessions, with five musicians, and it’s described by the band as “a psychedelic patchwork of ambient rock that would transport the listener to the fantasyland of the good ship ‘Dub Voyager’ – the band’s favourite album of the period”. You need to be aware that this album is something very special indeed – It’s not readily comparable to anyone else around, save the faintest of nods to Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana along the way, but it is an album from which you will derive lots and lots of long-lasting musical heaven for years and years to come. Immaculate!

The first thing you notice about ‘Flight Of The Dub Voyager’ is that it is slowly, but solidly rhythmic, in a kind of decelerated Ambient Dub sense, with gentle drums, percussion and bass in very far Eastern mode, while all around the slowly changing rhythmic base, assorted layers of synth heaven slide, glide, soar and swoop to create a truly breathtaking and serenely beautiful setting. At around the six minute point, the shape changes, as a new sea of heavenly synths appears while the bass and ethnic percussion subtly change rhythmic shape into a more heartbeat setting, eventually disappearing to leave an ocean of synths that soar and fly, dive and echo all around your head to amazing effect. From this, a sort of fast-paced sequencer style line emerges, then the huge panorama of synth sounds intensify. This eventually fades to bring back the opening rhythmic bass as various synth landscapes glitter and sparkle from horizon to horizon – and still we’re only nine minutes in with forty-eight to go. You’ve got to believe me when I tell you that if Mooch can achieve such spectacular soundscapes and moods in just nine minutes, you can only imagine what the rest of the album must sound like with its jaw-dropping array of layers, textures, similarly paced rhythms, soundscapes, moods, atmospheres, spacious sound-pools, miles of gorgeous synth flows and a warmth and depth that few other synthesizer musicians operating in such an ethnic field can match.

Weight: 150.00 g