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Koan is a new name to me, a Russian duo debuted last year with their web-only release Talking Stones and who have started to appear on downtempo compilations. Two Moon Butterflies may be a little early in their career for a whole album, and while the ideas are there it’s the execution that lets this one down. For the most part, they steer clear of Chillout Clichédom, opting instead for an intricate, Japanese-y sort of sound that suggests a great deal of tenderness and emotion behind the music: when it works.

On occasion they sound like one of Bluetech left his synth rolling through various patterns and presets, and the sheer let’s-add-more-notes noodliness does start to grate after a while. The real pity however is this over-use of layers-upon-layers of melody, not all of which are welcome. Pearl Island is wonderful: an ethereal, rising tune that sounds like the first rays of sun washing over a Pacific island.

By contrast, Lady Of The Coco Flower starts out on a gorgeously understated vibe, but loses its way gloriously with a thoroughly unwanted selection of eurotrance topend noises arpeggiated in a way that would make even Ferry Corsten blush. Ghosts In The Pyramids has a nice funky backbone but the over-emphasised melodic flurries leave you cold. The title track sounds like a fusion of Entheogenic and Bluetech in a Japanese temple, a description which may turn out to be applicable for the album as a whole.

By the time First Love closes, you’re not quite sure what you’ve been listening to: this is either a different stab at chillout, a badly-conceived amalgamation of Entheogenic and Bluetech, or the soundtrack to a dodgy mid-nineties Manga flick. One thing we can be sure of is that this is interesting music. But interesting doesn’t necessarily mean good.

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