Alpha.

Come From Heaven. 1997.

Brilliant debut, downbeat melancholic pop with a certain timeless quality. Beautiful vocals from revolving cast of singers. Scratchy samples, dusty perfection.

Pepper. 1998.

Remixes and other oddities from the Come From Heaven era. Largely unnecessary except for the Underdog/Trevor Jackson remix that sounds like drums of war in an intergalactic laser battle.

The Impossible Thrill. 2001.

The difficult second album, whereby they make the mistake of believing removing the sampled element from their music would make for a better live show. shame the songs loses a lot of its timeless charm it had when it was shrouded in the warm crackle of found vinyl. A disappointing mis-step.

Stargazing. 2003.

A fantastic return to form. Kevin the new vocalist a revelation. Wonderful, timeless pop.

Made In Space. 2004.

Largely unnecessary collection of early recordings. The best material reappears in the more coherent "Lost..." instrumental series.

Lost in a Garden of Clouds Part 1. 2004.

In which the band that has marked itself out with brilliant vocalists decide to forego all vocals and mix up music, odd samples and found sounds. Beautifully realised. One of the best records since their stunning debut, via different means but to the similar ends of a spiraling, sparkling starry wonder.

Lost in a Garden of Clouds Part 2. 2005.

Like part one, slightly more up beat but losing a bit of part one's magical touch.

Without Some Help. 2006.

Surprisingly coherent remixes and b-sides collection. Remixes of Horance Andy tunes a highlight.

The Sky Is Mine. 2007.

My favourite forgotten trip-hoppers return with proper album number four, by my reckoning. Their press release will list double that, counting remix albums and their special instrumental experiments, which I just adored. But this is the first proper album, with songs, since the Stargazing. Things are not back to square one, as unlike previous "song" based albums, all vocal duties are covered by the one singer. Wendy Stubbs, the smoky voiced siren that's been with the band since the first album, steps up and steps out to deliver a standout performance, possibly outshining all that she's done with the band prior. much more intense and personal when she's staying with us thru the whole album, as opposed to the past where different voices come and leave over the corse of an hour. Fascinating effort, criminally under looked. To be a minor cult classic one day?