Saturation Point - Three

'Three' opens with a subtle keyboard riff, and the track slowly builds up with percussion, keys and effected guitar in the manner of old-school pre-Millennial dance music: gradual incremental additions of sounds and themes; loops of one, four, eight or sixteen bars in length gradually combining without clashing, blending into a rich and mellow soundscape with Balaeric overtones. And then, without realising it, you find yourself taking off into a wide blue sky of washing guitars, this launch into the atmosphere accomplished seemingly without effort. It's blissful stuff - the soundtrack to a bright sunny day or a beautiful dream of hallucinogenic freedom, shot through with little incidental flecks of brass, crescendoing onward and upward ... until, just as suddenly and seamlessly as the launch, you're back on the ground again, exhilarated and refreshed. The seven songs on Saturation Point's record are numbered, not named, and each of them uses the same basic ideas as above, but with considerable variations of emphasis. Some of the tracks are more guitar driven, featuring rocky riffs combined with crashing cymbals and wig-out wah-wah soloing. Others lean more toward the spacious ambience of post-rock or Pink Floyd's more subtle moments - liquid landscapes of sound as intimate as they are epic. It's a striking display of diversity and inventiveness that's as difficult to categorise as it is to ignore. So sit back in the sunshine, roll another number, and turn it up loud – there's time enough to go flying for the afternoon, and Saturation Point make a fine volunteer pilot.