Sometimes, just sometimes, music which defies definition and explanation forces its way into your consciousness. However, this isn’t always a good thing. Happily, Chameleon Jersey – the mysterious ‘David’ only abetted by a visual artist – are an act (we can’t use the term band) who, while straddling simultaneously the ambient and experimental genres, make something which also chucks in beautiful, intriguing and engrossing into the mix of helpful adjectives. Broadly it’s what you might expect to find in the score of a high-quality and slightly arty film, but thanks to what we’d have to call ‘songwriting’ it’s never dull – never too invasive, but certainly not background music. From the orchestral sweeps of opener ‘Alone As One’ via the oceanic ambience of ‘Paintings of Eden’ all the way to the thoroughly chilled ‘Mantra IV’, there’s a certain majesty as Mr Jersey paints pictures in the mind of the listener. Vocals and beats are in short supply – though ‘Last Orders’ should act as a dancefloor filler should they get a gig at T in the Park’s Slam tent, while ‘The Way It’s Meant To Be’s acoustic strum sounds like it’s been dropped in from another album. However, there’s more than enough for fans of Ennio Morricone & Vangelis, but also 80s electropop, Satie, Underworld, and for anyone who’s ever stayed all the way through the credits because they want to know who did the soundtrack.
