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Ylang Ylang: Tributary

'Tributary' is a somewhat epic homemade trance journey emanating from Christchurch. The musical offspring of Martin Langlands (who wrote and produced all), it's an album of thoughtful, gently provocative pulses of electronica. Tangibly inspired by nature, it also embraces the worlds of spirituality, space, mythology, people and places, the past and future, science fiction, sensations, emotions - healthy tools for a musician also prone to composing soundtracks (most recently for a short film about base jumping!). It's unfortunate that the few vocal (spoken) samples are muddy and hard to make out and so detract from the overall effect. This is his third self-released album - following 'Galaxid 1993-2001' and 1999's 'Aquatic Astronomy'. Langlands' music box on this album includes guitar touches, imaginative textures (oriental sounds, bird noises, even the much vaunted panpipes!), and all kinds of other ideas. The menu runs through ambient/chill to multi-layered trance - which I would enjoy more of. Opening track Ultrasound is a stunner - evocative, hypnotic, elemental, and a bit of a standout. Likewise Norwester with its Goa Knows sample and some nice didge. Most of the balance is in a more ambient vein. Whilst maybe not as 'original' as proclaimed (due to the sheer volume of this ilk that's been produced worldwide in the years since), it's nonetheless a worthwhile trip to take. Check out www.yysound.com for more.

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