Style, style, style. Style is where it is at. Style is where it has always been at and, talking of style, where better to find style than in “Gates of Light II” which is the second album by the forever refrigerator cool Gates of Light.
I hear a lot of music made by combining recycled plastic with the robotic precision of the computer and it is almost always found to be lacking in just about everything. However, the technology is not really to blame as, by the simple addition of style and musical ambition, even I can be persuaded to worship the loop with the fervour that the many in the know seem to possess. Of course, an album, like a cake, needs a cherry on top and, in the case of this album, that cherry is Louise Quinn’s voice. She adds what might best be described as a fairytale quality to all that sings and she duly takes all that is looped and turns it, through magic and an expensive manicure, into an enchantment. The spell is cast and all you want to do is to worship at the feet of the Queen of Cool.
Gates of Light II might well be just a compilation of three previously released EPs but these nine songs come together well and if you appreciate style – and I do – then this one will definitely be worthy of some of your worship.