Echo Other (Expanded Edition)

Album Review

Australian ambient pop outfit All India Radio make a bid for wider recognition in the Northern Hemisphere with their third album, signing with the estimable Chicago-based indie Minty Fresh. That's the only noticeable change on Echo Other, however: otherwise, this is a whole lot more of the same, and that's a good thing. Sounding like a mellower version of Boards of Canada, All India Radio (basically, multi-instrumentalist Martin Kennedy plus occasional guests) specialize in the dreamiest kind of dream pop, all floating sustained keyboard chords and downtempo beats, accented with folky acoustic and twangy, Ennio Morricone-style electric guitars and, rarely, female vocals mixed well into the background. (Indeed, the vocals on this album are a good example of Phil Spector's famous dictum that some instruments should be felt but not heard.) The 12 resulting tracks are that rarity: chillout music that actually rewards closer inspection.