Alex Smoke - Incommunicado

The term "soundscape" is bandied around an awful lot, but for this album it's a valid term. From start to finish it creates a wonderful atmosphere with a surprisingly minimal set of sounds. At the end you definitely feel as if you've been taken on a journey, which doesn't happen all that often these days.

I wouldn't be surprised if I heard that this had been used as a soundtrack for an arthouse movie. Many of the songs have an ambient, progressive feel to them and would make really quality background music.

Overall the production values are extremely high; the compression and the careful mastering of the album only adds to the grandeur of sweeping strings, intricate piano melodies, minimal glitches and punchy kick drums that make up this wonderful album.

If you like Trentemoller's "Last Resort", or Dousk's "D.I.Y", you will enjoy this.