bvdub - Then (CD)

The king of ambient is back with a new album. His 7th this year in fact...ole Brock Van Wey has been a busy lad this year and indeed his profile has been heightened due to this plethora of releases he's chucked into our ears. As ever the album is a long one with long tracks and not very many of 'em so there's 4 tracks totalling 75 minutes of chilled out ambient bliss for you. 'Had To be There' builds slowly from some mild ambient tones into an ambient clubby track with muted female vocals, strings and chilled beats. It's lovely! The whole muffledness of the sound reminds me a little of Gas. The whole album is a strange mix of  euphoria and ambient vibes. It has more of a clubby vibe than other albums but to be honest I prefer this side of his music as there's more going on. It still has all the trademark bvdub sounds but the added female vocals really give the album an extra oomph. It's a beautiful listen from start to end.