Mogwai and Boards Of Canada have had a seismic, sometimes overbearing influence on the music being created by many bands in Scotland, but few can claim to have distilled the best of both into one coherent vision.
That's what we have with Glasgow instrumental three-piece Machines In Heaven. But to be mentioned in the same breath as synth-pop heroes Chvrches (as some have done) is about as accurate as a blindfolded drunk taking up archery. This is not analogue synth-pop inspired by the early 1980s; this 47-minute 32-second masterstroke is an electrohead's eccentric twist on the experimental progressive rock of the 1970s.
The title track introduces a harp into the mix, before evolving into a symphony of teasing piano, contorted feedback, ghostly squalls and warped electronic beats then climaxing with what sounds like Tiesto-style Ibiza power chords mashed up with guitar gymnastics reminiscent of prog rock band Rush.
Even on more epic-centric atmospheric tracks like National Monument and The Eternal Now, they still have the power to captivate and confound in equal measures. Never mind dubstep, this is dreamstep - an unhinged and inventive album to be loved and treasured, not just admired, and one of the finest to come out of Glasgow in many a year.
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