It has been quite a while since I received a dedicated selection of electronica to review so I was pleased to receive James Murray’s latest body of work ‘Where Edges Meet’ out now courtesy of Ultimae Records.

‘Where Edges Meet’ is a collection of nine instrumental pieces that fall into the ambient genre. Murray paints an intriguing landscape that could be taken from an imaginary film. In fact the album as a whole has an overriding sense of the visual to it. From start to finish you feel like you are walking through a long abandoned city, some of the sounds have a sense of inquisitive tension about them almost like peering around a corner, not quite knowing what to expect.

For me this sense of isolation becomes a recurrent theme that is explored from different angles. In places there are shades of alternating warmth and cold that often occur so quickly within a given track they can take the listener by surprise (Awayward). While elsewhere there is an almost deliberately muted sense of majesty (Colour Has It’s Own Language). This sense of journey goes further as you progress into the album ‘Outside Context Solution’ steps up the intensity a gear and reminds me of a John Carpenter soundtrack while some of the spot effects on ‘Gaijin’ and ‘Where Edges Meet’ are almost reminiscent of finding some vestige of lost civilisation in the ruins.

The ‘pin drop’ intensity builds further on ‘Empty Spaces’ delivering a sense of impending threat to the listener with the unsettling machine hiss spot effects and almost cardio like drum sounds. There’s an almost playful respite however in ‘Eleven’ which is almost like a journey around a garish abandoned mall. Finally you are faced with the exit point to the album ‘Invisible People’, the point of departure from your strange new location or your point of discovery depending on your viewpoint.

In conclusion James Murray has delivered a very complete body of work with this album, while the tracks do work well by themselves I feel it is best to enjoy the album in it’s entirety because there are really are strong thematic links between the songs. He’s achieved something here with a very cohesive storybook feel to it. Granted at times that story might be a touch unsettling but it is a pleasure to listen to none the less.

A definite recommended purchase.