- With the continuing glut of chillout music it's easy to overlook the fact that there might still be some genuinely decent albums to be heard within the genre. One of these is Fragile State's new 'Voices From A Dust Bowl' record, their second and follow up to the extremely popular 'The Facts And The Dreams'.
The opening doesn't bode too well though - an overuse of the theremin on 'Four-Four-Four' sounding a bit contrived. All this is forgotten in the excellent 'King For A Day', a strong melodic hook and positive vibe, the best track on the album. The ghost of Craig Armstrong is then evident in the string arrangements of 'New Bassa' (a good thing), but more often than not it's an individual style realised by the duo.
Proof, too, that rhythm tracks aren't always essential, as 'Stolen Generation' and 'Paper Smile' show. The latter makes great sunrise material, with a warm and rounded bass sound. Some tracks are more rhythm dependent though, and 'Overcurrent' employs a strong breakbeat, its theremin sound a bit more subtle this time, giving way to a noodly Rhodes piano.
This is high quality down tempo music, and while a big proportion of the market for horizontal music has moved on to young (and soulless) standard singers, Fragile State prove there's plenty of life in the old dog yet.