Tripswitch

Circuit Breaker

LSD (UK)

Welcome, welcome, welcome. To one of the finest chillout albums ever recorded. To the first genuinely essential chilled release of 2005. To the first signs that summer may be on the way, that there’s a chance we can all hang out in fields drinking rapidly-warming beer out of plastic cups while staring up at the clouds and winking at a cute hippy of the opposite sex. The title Circuit Breaker may be a bit of a misnomer, as there’s little semblance here of any sort of tecchy, electronic vibe; for the most part the imagery is of vast rolling landscapes, sunshine over swaying cornfields, and general breezy summertime hammock action. Opening up with awesome dub, it finds its feet with Indigo, almost nine minutes of ultrasmooth global downbeat trance that’s dazzlingly accomplished. Nick Tripswitch’s evident musician-ship-ness-thing is all over the place, adding another dimension to tracks such as Roll Your Own and Viscous, coming together beautifully on Cartwheel: one of those tunes that makes you remember why being alive can be so damn fun and so damn gorgeous. It’s easy-going and good-natured, and reminds me of those long open plains they used to have in the Huckleberry Finn TV show; the soundtrack to a misspent, innocent summertime. Silver has been around a bit, and this new remix ups the ante and polishes off that sheen, giving it a wonderful 90bpm dubby 4-4 that makes me wish it was sunset at Turaya. Music comes together and hangs on by a silver thread on Tomahna, with more layers going on that you can shake a stick at, but never sounding imbalanced or rushed. And when it finally all comes together on the vast Deer Park, the rushes are heading up and down your spine like nobody’s business. Perfect beats, great layering, all coming together perfectly. Wow. Tripswitch will be playing at this year’s Omni, Sonica and Glade festivals and on the strength of this he could well be a resounding highlight of all three. If you want to spend a tenner coaxing the summer to come out of its shell (and let’s face it, who doesn’t) then buy this. Outstanding.

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