Craig Armstrong
The space between us

THE REVIEW

During the first somewhat distracted listening, I skip to track number eight. Rise: a perfect example of a chamber techno masterpiece.

A geometric and relentless rhythm that becomes lighter or more frantic, accelerating imperceptibly and slowing down seductively, interspersed with sharp strings and powerful timpani. Damned cinematic too perfect, a direct precise sonic attack that is impossible to escape. And just before that, there was Balcony scene written for Baz Luhrmann's Shakespeare film: a wonderfully post-romantic piece with that crescendo of strings that pauses for a moment, just to move you yet again, repeating its catharsis and diving back into its sea of pathos...

And right after that, there's Glasgow. In other words, dub without its African roots, dub as if it were invented by a young Scottish pianist standing at the window on an afternoon when the rain slowly and resolutely drowns his city. So, I listen to it again carefully, this 'The space between us' and I discover that it is indeed a beautiful album, a journey through the twentieth century that starts with Rachmaninov, brushes against the ambient music of Satie and the soulful orchestrated pop of Burt Bacharach, dives into the sound revolution of Eno and Fripp and stops with Cluster, Massive Attack, Boards Of Canada to add rhythm to these new sounds.
Fantastic Weather storm and Sly II that combine classical compositions with the more psychedelic and melancholic rhythms of Massive Attack (both part of Protection). Incredible Let's go out tonight with its easy listening twists. Mysterious and supernatural Laura's theme. An album that is an encyclopedia of emotions.

An hour in which music becomes new, immerses itself in a thousand waters and is reborn in the few essential notes of the concluding Hymn that makes way for the requisite silence to leave us alone, exhausted, happy…