FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON The Isness (Hypnotic) Rating: NNNNN Rating: NNNNN
After a five-year absence, Future Sound of London have reinvented themselves as a psychedelia-damaged space-rock band. The Pink Floyd influence was always there somewhere in the background, but has now been brought forward and updated with some Spiritualized-influenced psych-blues freak-outs and epic orchestrated dirges. Happily, unlike many other techno-rock crossover attempts, this one is actually quite successful, even if the packaging and liner notes are leaning toward flaky hippy nonsense. Those hoping for some futurist tendencies on this album will be disappointed it’s very much a guitar-driven project and bears little resemblance to their techno past. Weird, but definitely compelling, and far from what you would expect from them.