Shpongle - 2005 - Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out 5


This is a damn fine album. Here Shpongle refines some of the atmospherics and world beat elements of Tales Of The Inexpressible and uses them to create a voyage more like their first album. The concept here is a series of dreams which equates to what I like to think of as some awesome audio paintings. Although there are 20 listed on the back cover, it's better to think of these as several long tracks, especially as there is no pause between many of the tracks.

Posfords guitars return here as do many of the female vocals and other worldbeat elements. But where the last album used these in a jarring manner that sometimes threatened to make these psychedelic explorers sound more like Deep Forest, everything here is fully integrated into the trance-inducing rhythmic structure. Of course Raja Ram is present to contribute some odd utterances and make sure things are properly twisted.

As far as I can tell, the first dream sequence is like a surreal trip to Rio, maybe a little fear and loathing during carnival. The second sequence makes me think of a flying dream, an out of body experience perhaps above the London skies. For the next sequence we have an encounter with ancient Mayan shamanic culture. The fourth sequence places images of a extremely technological future in my head; sort of a happier Blade Runner landscape. For the finale we get a sequel to "Divine Moments Of Truth," which sounds like another DMT trip to me, including a Ned Flanders sample from the psychedelic chili pepper episode of "The Simpsons."

Of course the beauty here is that everyone will probably come up with completely different images and interpretation. This is a concept as no concept, or perhaps an attempt to tap into the collective unconscious.

Shpongle's third album is a nice Roarshach Test. It's not enough to listen to this album passively. To really appreciate it properly you must imprint a bit of yourself into the music and listen actively and using your own imagination.

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Shpongle - 2005 - Nothing Lasts... But Nothing Is Lost