DARK SKY – OTHONA – MONKEYTOWN

Dark Sky’s second album finds them dispensing with vocals completely for ‘Othona’, in which they continue to explore a wider variety of darkly shaded musical genres. The pair pack their soundscapes with interesting material that occasionally glints in the sunlight and is continually absorbing. The brooding ‘Domes’ is an illustration of how they can gather real power in the course of a track, while ‘Angels’, while starting out like a floated ambient track, turns out to have a structure of slow, arching movement but with a strong background energy. ‘Field Tower’ and the harder ‘JJJ’, meanwhile, are pure techno but with all sorts of intricate nuances. ‘Othona’ is a notable progression from the already fine ‘Imagin’, already three years old – and shows that Dark Sky are really only just getting going. On that basis the next one should be a cracker!
 
Ben Hogwood
4 out of 5