Far From the Maddening Crowds

Review by Darren Gawle

Far From the Maddening Crowds is a collection of ambient dance tracks which would make sense as DJ white-labels, but unless you're a hard-core electronic music / rave fan I wouldn't entirely recommend the album. Some of it recalls Brian Eno and certain segments of Peter Gabriel's Security album, but it's also an album which is too dependent on the context in which you listen to it; i.e., it makes more sense at Sonar than in my living room.

Mind you, I did put the CD on while I scrubbed the algae out of my shower, and, for one brief shining moment, it felt like I was living in a Mike Leigh movie.

(By the way, anybody familiar enough with local popsters Daytona will go all nostalgic when they remember that Daytona's first album was entitled Chicane as well. I had to explain it enough times when I was with the band, so this is the last time: a chicane is that area of a racetrack painted with red and white stripes, and if memory serves me correctly it indicates a tricky corner ahead. And, no, Dave from Pipedream, it's not pronounced "chicken"... )