Dolphins Into The Future - Canto Arquipelago (Vinyl LP)

Lieven Martens a.k.a Antwerp's very own Dolphins Into The Future makes his debut for the aptly named Underwater Peoples label with a ponderous New Age reflection on the cluster of islands known as The Azores. Underwater Peoples only make good records so obviously this is a good record but beyond that this is a decent departure from Martins typically arpeggio driven New Age synth wig-outs of his previous work. On 'Canto Arquipelago' Martins takes the same fundamental discipline and applies an altogether more earth-like set of sounds working mainly from field recordings interspersed with sparser, more organic instrumental arrangements. Sure, there's some beautiful synth work from time to time but for the first fifteen minutes it's all loose piano chords and drifting wavescapes that dominate proceedings. He's pretty much taken the spliffed out cosmic nature of previous outings and bought them right down to earth. And there's me thinking if you've heard one Dolphins Into The Future LP you've heard them all. Clearly this is a step in an altogether new direction.