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Lol Hammond - All This Is Bliss
LOL HAMMONDAll This Is Bliss
(Big Chill, 2002)
Lol Hammond's debut album for the Big Chill is as multi-faceted as the man behind it. Variously mixing pure electronica with drum loops, guitar feedback and some memorable vocals - from Lorraine Mackintosh (Deacon Blue), Sally Rodgers (A Man Called Adam), and Nina Walsh (Sabrettes, Slab) - this is bliss indeed.
Track listing
1. Twilight Glitters
2. Baby Piano
3. Wave
4. Love Forgotten
5. Dust
6. Can't Sleep
7. Big Sky City
8. F.X. Halo
9. Love Forgotten (revisited)
REVIEWS
Muzik
'This music is hard to describe. It has a calmness, a stillness about it that is like a misty dawn deep in the English countryside. It makes you stop, sit, shut up. It can slow down your buzzing brain and help you breathe deep and fly off somewhere. HIghlights are 'Baby Piano', the sort of tune Enya would make if she made good records, and 'Love Forgotten', featuring the unmistakable Sally Rodgers from A Man Called Adam. What a breath of fresh air.'
* * * * * Chris Coco
Mojo
'Prime chill-out album eased out by former Drum Club mainman.
'From membership of techno free party nutters Spiral Tribe to playing ambient sets at The Big Chill festivals, Lol Hammond has come a long way in electronic music. More a gradual transformation than an overnight leap, he's one of many electronic artists who've broadened their palettes over the years. Beautiful in its simplicity, it's obvious Hammond is coming from the soothing, linear Eno end of electronica rather than the wibbly-wobbly weirdness of Aphex et al. From the chilled, dusky rapture of 'Baby Piano' to the lilting lament of 'Love Forgotten', featuring vocalists Lorraine Mackintosh from Deacon Blue and Sally Rodgers from A Man Called Adam respectively, this is downtempo beatitude in excelsis.'
Carl Loben
Seven
'Lol Hammond is a happy go lucky guy about town, his music first got him recognition as one half of the Drum Club, then he went on to form Slab, with ex-Sabrettes supremo Nina Walsh, who delivers a beautiful, slightly spooked vocal over Lol's lush melodies on 'Dust', one of the standout cuts on 'All This Is Bliss'. Sally Rodgers from A Man Called Adam, and Deacon Blue's Lorraine Mackintosh also sing on a couple of tracks. The instrumental soundscapes are rich in texture, and have a slight melancholy to them. Kick back and reefer roll with Lol.'
* * * * Dean Thatcher
Spaced
'This is a hugely evocative album... poignant electronica with characterful vocalists, and creates an emotional ride that is perfect for those post-weekend blues. Outstanding.'
9 / 10 Barrie Williams
DJ
'Taking the lead of fellow Big Chill stalwart Alucidnation, former Drum Club man Lol Hammond produces a very laidback album of electronic ambience and vocals. It is, for want of a better phrase, very head in the clouds - the kind of soft synth, cosmic ambience that recalls ambient times past, before all the subgenres of glitch, click house, folktronica and the like were invented to muddy the waters of the simple art of relaxation. In these cynical times it's easy to scorn some of the sentiments on here, enclosed as they are in their own bubble of happiness, but in the right context - for example The Big Chill's Naxos festival earlier this year - this all makes sense. So close your eyes, forget where you are for a moment, and surrender.'
* * * Steve Nickolls
The man behind the music
Written: 22nd Mar, 02
Read: 4535 times
