Banco de Gaia - Igizeh (2000)

For those new to the work of Leamington Spa's Toby Marks, a.k.a. Banco De Gaia, his sixth album contains many of the classic Banco hallmarks of his earlier work as well as providing exciting hints as to his future directions.The album opens with a typical atmospheric Banco De Gaia slow builder - "Seti 1". Moody synth drones, calls to prayer, children's voices and birdsong gradually give way to dense and frenzied percussion, over which the chanted main theme of the tune builds and builds before giving way to pounding drum breaks.The dark mood is suddenly lifted by the pure summer of "Obsidian" - an uplifting and upbeat dance track complemented by the gorgeous vocals of Jennifer Folker.From there the album winds it's way through the Orb-like Arabic tinged percussion of "Creme Egg", the Portishead-like lo-fi of "Glove Puppet", to the dancey Moroccan jazz of "Gizeh". The crazed sitar of "How Much Reality..." soon gives way to the chilled out dub of "B2" a track very typical of Mark's earlier work.The start of the penultimate track, "Fake It Till You Make It", has echoes of "Shine on you Crazy Diamond" by Pink Floyd, and builds to a beautifully romantic string climax before descending (in true Banco De Gaia style) into an upbeat Arabic jazz boogie.The album closes with "Sixty Sixteen" - a superb track, very reminiscent of early stuff by The Orb, that begins with deceptively simple and sombre reed organ melody, but which is gradually layered with more and more percussive sounds and strings built around a refreshingly complex time signature change.This is a very good album in the truest sense of the word - it isn't just a collection of disjointed tracks thrown onto a CD to sell. There's real thought behind how everything has been put together and the sheer density of rhythms, sounds and samples on "Igizeh" means that this is an album that constantly rewards the listener with something new.