FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON THE ISNESS ALBUM HYPNOTIC RELEASE: AUGUST 13, 2002 REVIEW: SEPTEMBER 12, 2002

I am worried about a current trend. Artists with a lot of pressure to make a follow up on a successful album, instead does something completely unexpected. And something the fans do not want. This will henceforth be called "The Kid A syndrome". This phenomenon is good in some ways, as these bands challenge the way people listen to them, and they experiment with their instrumentations and methods. In other ways, it's bad because this is not why fans started listening to the band.
On this album, we see FSOL in full hippie psychadelica mode. Sitars, acoustic drums, guitars, flutes and real singing (!) makes me think a bit of Beatles when they discovered Indian music. Pink Floyd is another influence that leaps to mind.
Admittedly, this is not bad at all, but I am such a big fan of the incredible electronic soundscapes they created in the past, that I'm having a hard time getting into this.
Some tracks veers closer to their old sound, like "Go Tell It to the Trees Egghead" with nice electronic sounds overlaying congas, sitars and a jaunty melody, but most of the time, there is very little resemblance.
If you are the adventurous type, give this one a chance, but don't expect anything near their old sound. In fact, this album is released as "FSOL Presents Amorphous Androgynous" in the US, probably to show that this is not really FSOL.

JOHAN CARLSSON