Londinium

Commute soundtrack today was Londinium by trip hop band, Archive. An album it has to be said I have been looking forward to. For a very brief period in the mid nineties I really did like Archive, I liked their sound and the fact that it wasn’t out and out dance music.
Wikipedia has bought me up to date on them and it appears they didn’t split up, they carried on doing what they do but along the way losing the female vocalist from Londinium, Roya Arab and also briefly losing the rap guy Rosko John, only for him to return this year.
So Londinium, a magnificent album that was as enjoyable today on the A38 as it was when I bought it in 1996. If anything a little better as I am hearing things a little differently.
I hear the world music influence that possibly Roya Arab may have bought in, yes they are doing a similar thing to Portisheads Dummy and both albums are fantastic but Archive were always better in my opinion as they released an album that was extremely strong from start to finish, that still sounds fresh, (fr-fr-fresssshhh) and in my opinion doesn’t really produce any clichés.
The stand out track is definitely So Few Words and it was this single that I bought prior to buying Londinium, gorgeous vocals all over it and utterly the the best soundtrack so far to my commute. Therefore 9 out of 10.