Review: IX - 7302

There are two very good reasons why I am reviewing this album from duo IX: they are from my home town of Chelmsford (gotta big up local music) and they make some pretty damned good music. IX has its roots in a friendship that dates all the way back to the 1980s, and take their influences from vintage TV / movies, science fiction writing as well as Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, John Carpenter and Vangelis.

When first track 'No More Forevers' hits the speakers, you would be forgiven in thinking that this is a 'lost' Tangerine Dream soundtrack; full of luscious swathes of synths and heavy with the melancholic vibe of, say, 'The Sorceror'. It has more than a whiff of authenticity about it, in fact it positively screams TD. 'Railway Nights' has a more abstract feel with electronic percussion echoing the titular railway and hushed, treated vocals gentling chanting in the background. 'Hotdog' is a trippier affair; a reversed drumbeat and a long spoken word sample narrating the tale of an acid trip. All of this is underpinned by some spacey electronica effects and a slow, deep melody...deeply psychedelic in the truest sense of the word. 'Kausalitat' is a very short jazzy interlude followed by 'Doubt', another track just crying out for a John Carpenter film. It has some flashes of Carpenter's own musical composition style and hangs heavy with foreboding and dread..fantastic track! 'The Clockmaker' starts, as one would imagine, with the ticking of a clock before some some lugubrious piano and mournful chanting create an atmosphere of funereal gloom. 'No Place Like Home' is another short track; a slow electronic reworking of the standard of the same name, full of effects and reeking of dystopian pessimism. 'Glass House' is a far more optimistic number, redolent of Tangerine Dream in their eighties incarnation of soundtrack composers of choice; it has a distinct beat but always manages to stay on the right side of becoming 'dancey'.This is followed by 'Nothing', a short, hauntological track with dusty, distant fairground tunes and snatches of spoken word. 'EMP' is only available on the CD version of '7302', and is reason enough to buy it. It is a fast-paced score to a sci-fi movie, full of spacey effects and samples, a frantic drumbeat and synths that come straight from seventies Germany..it cracks along at pace and, again, has a certain authenticity about it. A fine way to close a brilliant collection of tracks.

Chelmsford, like most cities, has a checkered past when it comes to producing music; for every Nitzerebb, Squarepusher or Sarah Cracknell there's a Hazel Dean or McFly bod; IX are artists that Chelmsford should be proud to call its own. However, when I say that this is a very fine album, please don't think it just because they hail from my home town - these guys could call Harlow, Nuneaton or Ulan Bator home and I would still wax lyrical about '7302'! They have taken influences that I hold dear (anyone who knows me would testify to my love of Tangerine Dream and adoration of Klaus Schulze) and have made an album of class and distinction; a soundtrack worthy of a film by any of the lauded auteurs. The composition, structures and instrumentation are set firmly in the seventies/eighties and yet sound satisfyingly fresh and contemporary. Truly excellent stuff. The CD and download can be purchased via the guys' Bandcamp page and, while you are there, check out their previous album 'System VII'.