A beautiful album, perhaps my favorite by Hammill from the 90s, despite the strong competition in the first half of that decade, which was undoubtedly inspired for him. Here, out of 9 tracks, at least 6 are great songs, and once again he saves the masterpiece for last, with the intense, moving "Gaia," an extraordinary piece where Hammill keeps his voice in the lower, deep, baritone tones, with the usual immense expressive intensity, almost managing to replicate the chills he gave with "A Way Out" two years earlier on "Out of Water" (that song is, for me, his zenith of the 90s). The title track is also a great piece, obsessive in its repetitiveness almost like a “slogan” from the lyrics of the “chorus.” Other applaud-worthy songs on this album include "Curtains," "His Best Girl," "Given Time," and the exotic itches and “word” of "Oasis," where David Jackson returns to paint more wonders, and where I feel some echoes of the lessons from the other Peter, Gabriel, albeit in a totally, unmistakably Hammilian way. Great violin performance by Stuart Gordon, among other things, ever-present in the arrangements.
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