VIRTUAL FUTURE

Old Zanov climbs up a set of ladders, with creaking arthritic bones, rummages around his attic - finds his trusty analogue keyboards, gives them a good dusting down and decides to recreate the sounds of his long lost 3 recordings.

This is a commendable follow-up to 82's 'In Course of Time' It's been a whopping 32 years since his last release, so who would know what to expect? Pleasingly it's a pretty good effort. I'm a real sucker for the 'Berlin School' recordings, therefore I guessed I was on to a winner before I even heard it.

'Virtual Future' is entirely electronic and vocal free. It displays a very retro 1975 feel, similar to 'Klaus Schulze'. It's all quite dream-like and 'cosmic' - as they liked to call it in the 70's. Released in 2014 you'd expect a crystal clear sound with plenty of depth. I can happily report that this is the case.

Zanov's never been the most gifted of composers (He's no virtuoso like Jean Michel Jarre with his 20 octopus-like fingers), He does however, make the most of his abilities.

The tunes aren't groundbreaking or startlingly original, but do succeed on a number of levels. For example - there's plenty of space between tracks which accentuate clarity. His vision is clear too, where he has a finished article in mind. There's no deviation from that path and he refuses to add sounds that would be considered contemporary with the year 2014. This leaves us with a colourful and at times mesmerizing album.

This is a recording that fans of 'Free System Project', 'Redshift', 'Michael Garrison' and 'Bernd Kistenmacher' will admire.

It's good stuff and a welcome return from the man who vanished in a puff of smoke in 1983.