(Inevitable/MGM)

All India Radio and The Church head honchos’ ambience-radiating collab 

Ever since Air’s Moon Safari came out in 1998, the term ‘chillout’ seemed to be forever hijacked by Ibiza compilations. Fortunately Martin Kennedy, the man in charge of All India Radio’s downtempo instrumentals since 1999, knows that while cheese and fine wine complement each other, their respective musical equivalents don’t. So does The Church supremo Steve Kilbey (who would have a couple of trademark snipes ready if anyone described his latest effort as ‘easy listening’); firm adherents to the quality aesthetic, the two share a similar approach to music-making. Nearly four years in the works, Unseen Music Unheard Words is a calm, slow-paced record tailor-made for Sunday mornings, its twelve tracks sung by Kilbey in his inimitable half-hushed manner (with periodic high harmonies from brother John). Stately opener Eyes Ahead is followed by the similarly unhurried, yet more melancholic My Will Be Yours, its lazily-picked minor pattern chiming over warm synth whirr. Built over a textbook acoustic guitar progression, Maybe Soon nevertheless possesses a solid dose of charm and would be perfectly at home on The Church’s latest opus Untitled #23, as would Thought Of Leaving, Kilbey revisiting his own You Took’s opening bass harmonics to gorgeous effect. The sombre double of Naked As A Star and Friends Are Gone comes as a deft finishing brush, and while Steve might wince at the dreaded ‘C-word’, I doubt anyone else is going to disagree about UMUW’s essence: excellent chillout music. 

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DENIS SEMCHENKO

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