More style than substance in this awkward followup album

Androcell

Process Of Unfolding

Celestial Dragon (Hong Kong)

I have to admit that when I heard Tip’s Infinite Excursions for the first time, I never thought chillout would have evolved into its own genre quite how it did. It sort of seemed like it was more of a one-off. Cue Androcell, who with his 2004 debut Emotivision showing just how much it had moved on. A similar leap would be a bit unrealistic for the followup; and I think it’s fair to say that it’s more of an introspective meditation on the styles of music introduced in Emotivision than anything else.

Undeniably a talented producer, Tyler Smith occasionally falls foul of getting too obsessed with the sounds and losing track of the elevating, warming soul of his previous output. At times it sounds over-shpolgley (namely the title track and the floppy-warp of Gnome Dosed.) Where Emotivision straddled organic and electronic admirably, Tyler doesn’t seem to hit the mark this time round. The glitchy Neurosomatic Circuit and Efflorescence see new sounds brought into the genre, with results that are interesting if not exactly earth-shattering. Atmos-Spheres is so hardly there that you barely notice it, and Dub Crickets is just plain daft. Spectral Processor however sees it all come together nicely, with melodies and manipulation that both sound incredibly fresh. Likewise the shimmering remix of Aes Dana’s Natti Natti, brought a new lease of life via a slomo 4/4.

All in all it’s a bit of an awkward listen, and you can’t help feeling that you have to keep really trying to get the most out of the album. Nobody is going to doubt for a second that he’s got another classic in him, but this isn’t it.

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