After 20 years of critical acclaim, first with The Saints then Laughing Clowns and latterly as profilic solo artist, Ed Kuepper has unexpectedly recorded 26 instrumentals designed to be, as the album's subtitle makes plain, Music For Films And Adverts. Originally available as a mail order showcase, the record's evocative diversity has excited enough outside interest to warrant a full release, albeit in truncated form. Not unlike Barry Adamson's similarly intended, fulminating soundscapes, this is non-ambient, widescreen, mood music. There's everything from Morricone-esque melodrama (Spring Is Sprung) to Booker T-style boogie (No 3 Runaway) via beatbox-enhanced faux jazz (The Favourite Angel) and mellifluous guitaring (The Spook), all rich in texture. Fragments will be familiar to fans of Kuepper's solo work (particurlarly Honey Steel's Gold) and the man's deliriously epic way with a melody is much in evidence.

Review by David Shepard