At a time when the breaks genre wanders aimlessly into the void of pop music, Hybrid have back flipped and produced an album full of subtlety and emotion, stretching further away from the flatulent, house-party breaks frequently dished out by many other artists and DJs. Morning Sci Fi is more about the possibilities of blending atmospheric sounds rather than trying to find another click to a repetitive drum beat, or how many clichéd hip hop samples you can feature in one track, and in that sense, the group from Swansea in the south of Wales have succeeded gracefully.

The difference this time around is what Mike Truman describes as primarily new "surroundings". The group have been listening to “anything other than dance music”, which has resulted in a greater focus on the band: more guitar, with a distinctly "rockier" vocal influence, leaving in it’s wake the classification of their sound as ‘progressive dance’, and what the purveyors of this genre have aspired to in the past. Morning Sci Fi is four years fresher, but it still carries a bag full of Hybrid's trademark sounds. Frequent use of dark synthy stabs under bellowing, atmospheric soundscapes, with understated guitar riffs rolling along over clean-cut breaks, all culminate to achieve a rarely felt musical intrigue.

With a love for northern European culture Hybrid have renewed what they describe as an "impossible dream" by recording in conjunction with the Russian based Hermitage String Orchestra. The group have used this “romantic” orchestral sound less prominently this time around, setting the stage for the vocals and instruments, rather than having very pronounced lines of melody as heard in Wide Angle. The use of the orchestra, nonetheless, still adds that uncanny, eerie feeling we have grown to love from Hybrid.

Their recent interest in the capacity of film scores to create mood has moved Hybrid to realise a series of tracks that work brilliantly together in their overall direction of sound, texture and intensity. With this filmic quality, the album reflects their idea of producing “one piece of work”, and makes for a different listening experience from beginning to end, feeling a lot less like your typical breaks compilation or progressive mix cd.

New additions to the group sees New Order's famous bassist Peter Hook, who Mike Truman laughingly describes as the group's "unofficial dad" with a “great stage presence” during their live sets, (heard on the two tracks 'True to Form' and 'Higher than a Skyscraper), and Adam Taylor, who blares out the majority of vocals in the album with a voice that "lends itself to the more weighty tracks" of Morning Sci Fi. Only one female vocal features this time around, beautifully delivered by the ex Opus III front woman Kirsty Hawkshaw in the ballad ‘Blackout’ which closes the album.

Rather than a collection of formulaic progressive break downs, the builds are constructed with the instruments plotting along; pushing forward and playing off one another, and it is this continuous refocus in sound that Mike explains is the key to keeping the darker and moodier progressive interesting: "I’ve got to want to listen to it, and not get bored. Its something you can’t force, you need a lot of time, and on the day you get lucky”. Some intervals are a strange bunch of spacey noises, crisp and erratic, whilst others have replaced the drum with a more robotic, metallic sounding industrial riff. There's even a throwback to the old acid riff, a consequence of revisiting some of their older tapes.

Despite the initial impression that this album is on the whole melancholy; "...wishing you were never born"…there is, hidden amongst its brooding progression moments of illumination, glints of hope and escapism realised through Adam’s lyrics and various melodic tangents that spring up unexpectedly; “It steals you away“...

These are inspired songs, not anything that resemble DJ tools, offering us a glimpse of what we can look forward to in their now infamous live sets. Their approach is refreshing. Morning Sci Fi has that darker edge; the warmth you can feel emanating from this music reminds me more of a fire drum on a bleak, wintery night than that of of the sun on a lazy summer island. Nonetheless, it’s busy and interesting, and on the whole I have found it really enjoyable. Best tracks: “Im Still Awake”, “Out Of The Dark”.