So, I was in the old HMV in Canterbury (before it moved to new premises and became an overpriced vinyl and shite merch shop for tourists), perusing the CD racks while my wife did more necessary shopping, and this strange electronic music was playing in the background.
It kind of mesmerised me, so having decided on a couple of purchases, I took them to the counter and during the transaction asked the bloke behind the counter "who's this then? It's really interesting". He pulled out this CD, and his little face lit up. The price on the cover wasn't extortionate, and my credit card was already in my hand, so the outcome was inevitable.
The album was commissioned by The Science Museum, London for its Robots exhibition in 2017, and is a very atmospheric mixture of ambient electronica, gentle dance beats and repetitive themes. This works brilliantly as a background, and can certainly enhance something like a museum exhibition, of twenty minutes grooving round the CD shop, but when you get home and listen to it, you find that it only works as background. So it's not an awful listen, but it washes over with little or nothing being memorable, despite the frequent repetition. And as two CDs weighing in at 150 minutes long, that's a long time to be doing something else, that you don't really want distracting from.
2* - Background electronica, not intended to actually be listened to!
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