Oresund Space Collective - Dead Man In Space

Originally released in January 2010 on vinyl, the reissued CD version of Dead Man In Space came out in April this year, with an extra track not on the vinyl version. The album as a whole is more laid back than EITSC, as befits the title, and the half hour plus opening track High Pilots gets things going with a gentle meandering melody, building slowly and ebbing and flowing in a languid fashion. There's far more keyboards and synths on this than anything on EITSC, so the feel is more ambient and mushroomy (a new adjective? :)). You get the feel of the insignificance of the dead astronaut as he floats along through vast nebulae. A chillout experience par excellence. The extra track on this CD version is next and Who Tripped On The C(h)ord? continues the sonambulistic journey, and the trip is now in state of stasis. A bubbling bass groove underpins Space Jazz Jam 2.2 which as the title suggests invokes a jazzy feel which for some reason puts me in mind of The Grateful Dead at their grooviest. Appropriately there's some understated sax blowing on this too as it soft shoe shuffles along, clicking its fingers. Everything is cooked to perfection and is never overdone. My favourite track on the album. The album ends with the Hawkwind/Moorcock inspired Dead Man In Space, wherein our hero gets to tell the world where it went wrong...or not, only time will tell. A disposable but fun end to the journey.

This band do not do anything startlingly new, but considering it is all improvised they show a remarkable restraint where it would be so easy to go off the rails. If you love your space rock, buy with confidence!


Tracklist:

1. High Pilots (32:30)
2. Space Jazz Jam 2.2 (17:35)
3. Who Tripped On The C(h)ord? (10:35)
4. Dead Man In Space (3:02)

Total Time: 63:42

Line up: (May not be entirely accurate!)

- Stefan / guitar
- Kaufmann / drums, percussion
- Dr. Space / synthesizer
- Thomas / bass
- Jocke / guitar
- Magnus / guitar, synthesizer
- Pär / bass
- Mogens / Hammond, synthesizer
- Anders / saxophone, effects

Links:
http://www.oresundspacecollective.com/
Listen and buy here:
http://oresundspacecollective.bandcamp.com/album/dead-man-in-space 

3 out of 5
#58