Golden Cap

The long-awaited third album from French duo Entheogenic has been a long time coming: not counting last year’s Dialogue Of The Speakers remix and collaboration package, it’s been the best part of three years since their last album proper. Golden Cap does more than pick up where the boys left off.

If anything, it marks a more mature and confident approach to their music, seeing them find their own sound more and more. Midnight Eyes drops in a McKenna sample at exactly one minute, and then progresses neatly. It’s fluid and a touch more organic than some of their older stuff – making for a fully immersive musical experience.

Sideways is dubbier, with feckles of ethnic samples jostling nicely against 23rd-century synths, all wrapped up in the exquisitely fluid movement that characterises the album’s general vibe. Golden Cap is dreamy 4-4 with some tasty vocals, and Zero Plus cruises along nicely with vocal pads that sound a little like The Age Of Love. Kashmir Day Trip is one of their best efforts ever. Utterly atmospheric, incredibly tight and with this energy veined through it that makes you just sit back in wonder, particularly towards the end with a sly unfolding that’s staggeringly good. The Solution Machine is classic Entheogenic, strikingly individual stuff.

The high point, however, is Absphinx. It rambles a bit, but comes good: a mix of spacey vocals, organic instruments, and increasingly-psychedelic layerings. It Almost reminds me of an on-form Ozric Tentacles – and this is a good thing. Secret Tongues ups the ante further, very intricate, breaksy stuff that whips you up into a whirlwind; nice to see that they’re capable of more energetic stuff as well as the downtempo. Finally there’s Ju, an easy, breathy close to the album, setting you back down gently at the end of it all.

This is easily their most accomplished artist album, and stands head and shoulders above a lot of the competition. What’s perhaps most significant is that they’ve finally shed the shpongle-clone skin that dogged them at the start of their career – this is fresh, deep, and unashamedly individual. If you’re looking for the shanty-friendly-soundtrack to your summer’s chilling, then it looks like you’ve found it.