PAPER MONKEYS

Here is an instrumental album to shove on at a late hour and just sit back, headphones attached, your brain sandwiched in between, and just let yourself be immersed in sonic psychedelic bliss. I have no idea where one track ends and another begins because it just flows so beautifully along. At times the music is techno fast tempo and features electric guitar and effects. At other times there is an ambience of sweet keyboards and electro percussion with deep bass resonances that envelop the ear canals.

I am no stranger to what the Ozrics are capable of having heard many times their early material such as Erpland, Jurassic Shift, Waterfall Cities, The Spiral Galaxy one, The Arborescence one and that more recent The Yum Tum Tree. In every case the music is a dynamic journey into sensory sound; evoking strong images and emotions every time. There is always a psychedelic spaciness and at times I hear smidgens of Kraftwerk, Hawkwind, and The Ovals. However Ozrics have their own sound and it is a bright multi layered form of space rock without the vocals.

This latest album Paper Monkeys, is certainly a well performed piece of uplifting music, there is not a bad moment on it. Having said that I feel that it is not as creative or memorable as some of the compositions on Erpland or Jurassic Shift. I am always blown away by the inventiveness on those gems and this latest effort really misses the mark. It is nice to sit under the warm rays of Attack Of The Vapours or Will Of The Wisps and the final track Air City is really a master work, but for me the album as a whole does not measure up to the excellent standard I have heard before from Ozric Tentacles.