ULTRAMARINE – Send And Return – LP – BH014V

The sense of water flows throughout, from the ebbing tide on ‘Mirosa’ or the allusion of lapping of water and bird calls on the river on ‘Xylonite’. ‘Decima’ has the feel of a celestial music box through Ric Elsworth’s sensitive vibraphone playing and it conjures up the way light plays on the water. ‘Hydrogen’ captures bubbles and frothing water in its use of percussion and swirling loops, and ‘Reminder’ uses effects on the guitar which create a dreamlike eternity over the track, and the beauty of Greg Heath’s saxophone near the end is glorious. The album’s final track is ‘Dawn’ which starts as a soothing meditation with keyboard ripples radiating out under ethereal flute, and ends with warm arpeggios and drums that give the sense that it’s time to cast off and float away to new adventures.

Paul F Cook / JOYZINE