Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

All is smoke and mirrors, all is illuminated by the brightest and most tangible of lights and yet in the darkness of ignorance, such moments of interesting and collective endeavour may be missed; the Cosmos after all can only produce so many light shows before the people get bored and seek solace in looking inward. The Cosmic Machine is such that the greater the magnitude of the shock in the sky, the less it seems to get noticed for the opportunity it may bring down here on Earth.

The charm of French expression is to be found everywhere, if one looks hard enough, the sophistication and the rebellious streak combining in the national armour with a sense of pride that cannot be matched it seems anywhere in Europe. Whether in film or in music, there is a semblance of cool attached to even the most unintentional of acts; the Cosmos learns and makes the groove even more vibrant in its continuation. For the various artists that make up the second collection of songs in Cosmic Machine, The Sequel, artists such as Anarchic System, Roger Roger, Queen Samantha, Grand Prix and Moon Birds all explore the electronic psychedelic nature of music in such a way that is both interesting and wonderfully elaborate.

It is the complex nature of electronic music, the genre perhaps closely resembling interpretative dance, which makes it such a divisive subject. It can inspire a feeling of lethargy, the abandonment of lyrical repose, the full sweep of the electronic humming like a spacecraft in deep space sending back coded messages for the brain to decipher. It can also though inspire in the right open minds, it can suggest a feeling of intrigue, of abstract fascination, something that becomes bigger when the listener realises how unhindered it is by the lack of vocal form; it is the muse and the mediator and deserves the chance to be heard with passion.

Cosmic Machine, The Sequel may not sit in the pantheons of glory attributed to such moments but like the Mona Lisa as she sits in quiet contemplation, staring into the void of human eyes, it is worthy enough of its own private wing, of which it is fully justified to have earned.

Ian D. Hall