Future Loop Foundation - The Fading Room ; memories and remixes
Future Loop Foundation's new album mixes the grandiose with the intimate to great effect on Godzilla-sized slabs of soaring meloditronica peppered by 50-year-old tape recordings of a Yorkshire family recounting their interests, ambitions and memories of the war. The Fading Room rewrites FLF's lounge/ambient template as a pastoral family history, which takes the listener through three generations of northern accents on the back of swooping strings and looped piano. While Barrat deserves praise for revealing his family history in such personal detail, the nostalgic nature of the testimonials highlights how twee FLF actually are. Tracks such as On the Village Radar and The Sea and the Sky are serotonin-soaked chillout numbers that lack any real punch, while Everything as it Should Be is depressingly saccharine. The remixes fail to move beyond these confines, with renowned Big Chill heads like Rob Da Bank and The Go! Team doing very little except boosting the tempo. With moments of genius, The Fading Room is a feel good hit for the summer, but it's unlikely to last beyond the first September rain shower. [Liam Arnold]