IT'S ALL ABOUT DELAY

Psychedelic improvisational space rock jams. That is what this is all about.

And these guys are good at what they do. Musically, the basis of their music sound very similar to the improvised outings bands like Amon Duul II had in the 70s. Swirling modern synths and space rock sounds like the ones made by Ozric Tentacles and Hawkwind is then added to that musical basis.

All the jams here have good momentum, and the instrument explorations are always controlled to the extent that each jam always have a musical foundation the exploring instruments explore from. The musical foundation will change several time in each jam of course, but will always be present. Few to no examples here of all musicians here each doing their own explorations at the same time; thankfully.

Still, this is music for specially interested. Well performed, played and planned; but not easily accessible as such - although it is one of the easiest accessible releases in this type of music.

OSC's creative peak up to now must have been on two inspiring days in 2006 - the 10/11th of March exactly. Scott Heller and his mates went into the Black Tornado Studios in Copenhagen (Denmark) and began to jam without having preconceived ideas as the band claims. Oresund Space Collective is a trademark for instrumental extended improvised grooving Psych/Space music in Europe and especially the scandinavian countries - consisting of prolific musicians coming from USA, Denmark and Sweden who gained experience in several other bands.

More than 5 hours of material was recorded within this two days - absolutely live - no overdubs were made when mixing this up. That's really hard to believe considering the high quality. The later published albums 'Black Tomato' (2007) and 'Inside your head' (2008) are also results of this recordings. 'It's about delay' is sold with a DVD cover and contains two CDs with a total length of nearly 160 minutes. Are they brilliant or boring? Improvisations on a high standard or aimless noodling? Opinions differ on this question. Who is able to get deeper into their musical approach, the spirit and flow, will be really fascinated after a while about their gorgeous interplay.

No instrument is pushed into the foreground distinctly. They are really acting equally, like a collective, exactly as the band name implies. Every musician is soloing all the way but it sounds absolutely flawless and compact. Hard to find another band which is acting in this way. Detecting them in 2007 was a big hit for me. Typical spacey synths are always swirling around Magnus' and Sebastian's never-tiring guitars alternating between solo and rhythm work with lots of echoes and delays. A groovy rhythm with reggae/dub leanings here and there carries away the band into space and time sometimes relaxed and then powerful, dramatic again. And you can explore tracks equipped with the massive use of Hammond organ.

CD 1 is continuously great - both parts of Cirkus Yoda and the groundbreaking Nebula 4747 with ethereal guitar work are the highlights if I ever should mention something like that. CD 2 can hold this standard with the emphasis on more atmospheric dreamy vibes. This one is provided with a 25 minute monster song Jupiter Flyby dedicated to a friend named Doug Walker of the US band 'Alien Planetscapes', who passed away in 2006. Electronic ambient 10 minutes are opening the song but then OSC switches to the wellknown grooving sound with the happy mood, joy of playing and extended Hammond use. The Tony Blair Witch Crocket Project finally is a totally spaced-out tune - excellent guitar skills with krautrock leanings.

I'm in the happy position of never getting tired or bored listening to this music - a wonderful experience and something very special - it takes time to come in but it's worth-while. If you're interested in top-notch spacey psychedelic jamming you shouldn't ignore this - 4.5 stars.