Unify - Spirit Zone

Boris Blenn has been on the trance scene wince most of us were still in short trousers. His Electric Universe project is sweet melodic psy, and what it lacks in growl factor is makes up for with smooth, cosmic melodies. Solylun kicks things off with its fragile signature over an acidic off-kick, pinned by a solid rhythm section. Activate has a bassline that’s about 90% Donna Summer’s I Feel Love, but get past that to the mid section and the acidic, consciousness-in-the-air peak makes it all worthwhile. Fire Wire (relax, it’s a different one!) is a guitar solo-like display of Boris’ prowess at the controls to consciously elevate and spin his audience, and Lumiere’s fluffy acid lines and warm filtered, pads make for a nice slice of Ibizan groove. He goes clubbier with Impulse (linear with a nice squelch), Exciter (what is it with old hardcore noises at the moment?) and Embrace It (Gatecrasher-psy), but it doesn’t work as well – this man really needs melodies to work with. Transmission sits somewhere between Yahel and vintage Jam & Spoon, which means yes, it’s cheesy and it’s a little predictable, but on the no-holds-barred trance vitamins he pulls out all the stops, creating a huge and euphoric tune that’s simply a joy. The official end-of-album chillout party consists of Jetzt, a nice sweet somkedown tune, and Gayatri, apparently a variation on a Sanskrit mantra and though pleasant, it’s sort of pointless. Patchy then, but nice, and you can’t deny Boris Blenn’s touch at melodic manipulation when it works.