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The central man behind Moodswings is English musician James Hood, whose double album “Horizontal” is the third album. According to the cover, the music is quite different from its predecessors “Psychedelicatessen” and “Moodfood” (of the latter, some 600,000 are said to have been sold worldwide). Hood describes the new music as “aural medication for tired minds”. Sounds pretty floaty but in this case that works out quite positively: “Horizontal” contains a soothing collection of instrumental lounge-like music with a clear electronic basis. The double album also features a number of guest musicians on violin, pedal steel, and e-guitar, among others. Hood uses some nice, quiet sequences (which are woven into the music as a recurring cycle) and apart from a sporadic beat, the atmosphere is very relaxed. The fourth piece “The Path of least Resistance” is in turn a beautiful classical piece complete with Steinway piano and strings. Personally, I’m least broken up by the pedal steel guitar which creates a slightly country-like atmosphere that feels rather out of place in a few tracks. The second disc contains, besides a single new track, mainly smoother sounding remixes of some pieces, but also two vocal pieces to which Julee Cruise (indeed, the one from the “Twin Peaks” Soundtrack) lends her beautiful voice. The album ends with a not particularly beguiling cover of Debussy’s “Clair De Lune”. |
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