Tom Middleton - 'Lifetracks' (Big Chill) Released 01/10/07

As far as chill out goes, Tom Middleton is a definite break from the norm. This is an album that strays so far from the remit of “chill out dance” that it is a mystery as to why it has been labelled this way in the first place. Instead, this album is clearly an experiment in Middleton’s continuing obsession with exploring what he calls “pure emotions in sound” and using the Big Chill Festival that he helped inspire as his base, ‘Lifetracks’ is the culmination of a project lasting nearly a decade and the fruits of his labour are more then a little provocative.

Yet there are moments when this album does drift into muzak territory. Album false-starter ‘Prana’ is one of those typical low-fi ambient tracks that you’ve heard a thousand times before and it is to Middleton’s credit that he does not continue in this way as the immediate follow-up ‘Beginning Of The Middle’ which scores highly for originality and builds into a mighty orchestral crescendo before the choral driven ‘Shinkansen’ pushes the album into darker areas. This is, of course, what makes the album different. In places ‘Lifetracks’ sounds like a film score on tracks such as the scenic ‘Sea Of Glass’ whilst songs such as ‘Serendipity’ hark back to that classic dance piano break that have made so many dance classics of the nineties.

As ‘Lifetracks’ goes past the halfway point it is possible to detect traces of more classic “chill out” on some of the latter tracks yet this is only fleeting as time and time again it seems that Middleton’s mind is working faster then his little DJ arms can twiddle knobs. Indeed, tracks such ‘St Ives Bay’ sound more like the Icelandic glacial outfit MũM rather then Nitin Sawney with its mournful horn and sombre bass. Meanwhile, ‘Moonbathing’ features a gliding piano score over a heartbeat thump sample that sounds like it belongs on a soundtrack to the next Xbox edition of Halo. The results are stunning in places, yet with its astral projections, minimalist production and the intense emotion that drips out of ‘Lifetracks’ this album can also be more then a little impenetrable.

Overall, you’d be a fool to buy this if you wanted an easy listen and it is unlikely that this will become a dance music classic, but there can be no doubt that this album is gloriously inventive, evocative and showcases a master at the height of his craft.