Matthew Bourne – Moogmemory

The improvisational pianist, composer and winner of 2001's Perrier Jazz Award takes a step aside from his multiple collaborative projects to immerse himself in Moogmemory. It's the first album to be recorded entirely on the 1982 classic Moog Memorymoog, the infamously unruly polyphonic synth. Hardcore electro nuts will enthuse at the enterprise and logistics but there is much for the broader audience here.

From the unsettling, twitching Sam to the calming, meditative Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, Bourne sculpts a multitude of textures and moods. It's challenging insomuch as it demands substantial listener input. Brushing in fragments of narrative, finding the album's emotional centre, defining its understated beauty: all of these things form part of the journey through this curious record's minimal, analogue artistry and its initially inscrutable soundscapes. That work pays back with interest: Moogmemory is a brave and rewarding left field adventure.