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Really, REDSHIFT have recreated the 1974-77 TANGERINE DREAM experience so faithfully their music is often indistinguishable from the real thing. I don't mean to sound disparaging here: REDSHIFT produce the most gorgeous soundscapes, but it's just impossible to think of anything else but 'Phaedra' when listening to the title track of this, their debut album. Does a slowly morphing sequencer pulse overlain by synth washes, choral synth sounds and flute tunes sound familiar to you? The instruments are the same, the compositional shapes are the same, even the bpm is the same.

If you love TANGERINE DREAM, you'll have one of two reactions to this. You'll either hate the virtual plagiarism here, or you'll adore the chance to revisit that fabulous period in electronic history. My reaction is the latter. I can't help myself: six minutes into the first track, when the sequenced pulses arrive, it's all I can do to keep still. Beautiful, majestic, stunning. Many will take points off for lack of originality, though.

Not me. I don't care how many times it's been done before. If it moves me it wins, simple as that.

There are four tracks on the album. The first and last are enormous canvases, spreading galaxy-sized sounds across the listener's senses. The middle two are small moons orbiting the gas giants. Though it is 33 minutes long, 'Blueshift' isn't quite the triumph 'Redshift is, and is much more ambient without communicating that same sense of power and wonder. Even the most patient listener will be waiting for that heartbeat to stop ...

REDSHIFT will go on to produce studio albums sufficiently different from this to please the discerning electronica lover. They'll also issue live albums with that retro TD sound. So, both bases covered. An important addition to the genres of spacemusic and progressive electronica. 

Enjoy.