FLOWERMOUTH

"Flowermouth" is the second full-length studio album by UK music act No-Man. The album was released through One Little Indian Records in June 1994. No-Man is a duo consisting of lead vocalist/lyricist Tim Bowness and Porcupine Tree frontman and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson. "Flowermouth" features guest performances by prolific names such as Richard Barbieri, Chris Maitland, Mel Collins, Robert Fripp and Ben Coleman.

Stylistically the material on the album is ambient and slightly experimental pop music. The atmosphere is of the music is predominantly dreamy and melancholic. All 9 tracks are quality compositions and even when the band flirts with dance music it sounds pretty great. This is a big improvement over their rather forgettable debut album "Loveblows & Lovecries - A Confession" (1993). The sound production is warm, organic, and detailed and provide exactly the right environment for the material to shine. Don´t expect this to sound anything like Porcupine Tree just because Steven Wilson is involved. His presence is strongly felt but No-Man is an entirely different beast.

The musicianship is strong on the album, but that´s no surprise if you´re familiar with the talents of Steven Wilson and the guest musicians who play on the album. I assume that most drums on the album are programmed as Chris Maitland only plays drums on a couple of tracks. I wouldn´t call Tim Bowness a particularly distinct sounding vocalist but his calm, subdued, and melancholic sounding vocals suit the music well. The addition of violin parts courtesy of Ben Coleman is a really great asset to the sound of the album.

"Flowermouth" is arguably a step up on quality for No-Man compared to the previous releases and fans of dreay melancholic pop music should give this one a listen. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.