Hector Zazou: Songs from the Cold Seas

This album was featured on Radio 3's Mixing It, in the days before Late Junction when there was nowhere else on the dial that would consider playing something like this. Then I came across it in a shop and bought it simply because it was equally rare to find an album like this on the shelves in Sheffield. Get it while you can.

Only I never really got it, if you see what I mean. The piece with Suzanne Vega and John Cale is the most accessible (and probably the one I heard on the radio), with Vega sounding a little like Laurie Anderson. But mostly it's neither fish now fowl: not enough experimentation with space and texture to qualify as ambient; not enough substance to the songs to engage with. Sometimes that can be interesting (e.g. David Sylvian), but not this time.

MusicBrainz entry for this album Wikipedia entry for this album Rate Your Music entry for this album Listen to this album in full at Last.fm