DMT Express – Sofa / Iboga

After having a small panic attack when I realised that it’s been four years since the last DMT album (four years that changed my life completely, but I’m still the same person, but what happens in the next four years, oh shit where’s the valium etc etc) (we all do it), I settled down into what turned out to be one of the more interesting, deep and expansive psy-chill albums since Tripswitch. The title track opens up, with a lovely lumbering groove, sounds peppered all over the place. One minute in, and you’re already amazed at the depth of sound going on. Rue Des Roses is gorgeous, a live acoustic/Spanish guitar that’s played well (infected mushroom take note) and fits the track perfectly (infected mushroom take note once more please). The other sounds are understated, and slot in perfectly. Voodoo Love takes things into a sort of oldskool housey 4-4, which is fine in itself of course, but one cant help thinking that it sounds a little lost and out of place – I’m not sure why. Hikari Land works better, still keeping the 4-4, 130bpm but it taps rather than thunks. Afro tribal drums and chanting over the top keep it moving, but there’s simply not enough room for Holweck’s sounds to really breathe. Kia (Toires Remix) is cracking, taking a pretty dark and menacing jungley sort of riff, doing intricate and tribal things with it, and somehow making a positive tune by the end. Then, Dematerialiizer happens to you: phuck. Basically. It’s a cracker, a proper piece of psychedelic chillout that’s uncommonly good, retaining that kinda journey-within-a-track that was perhaps last seen as good as this with the high points on Module 01. Utterly staggering. Pneumatic Bleeps has a very ethereal vibe going on, as though the sounds are about to dissociate off somewhere. It’s also very, very psychedelic – there’s more in common with the Ozrics and Gong here than there is with shpongle. Spirit of The Deep goes all “proper” ambient on our asses, picking up some ticklish beats just at the end, before Sleeping Among Trees finishes us of in true neatles beauty. DMT Express may hang together less cohesively that the previous DMT album – particularly with the 4/4 tunes in the middle. But the high points are extremely high, and you can’t doubt the staggering originality here. You just maybe need one little digital mystery detour past tracks 4 and 5.

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