Every now and then you hit a quandary in this reviewing game. Most of the time it is not that difficult. Pick out the best songs and write some words. Not too much, even for me. Royston Vince's mostly instrumental "Out of This World" album proved to be more of a challenge.
The problem, you see, is that instrumental albums don't leave much to talk about really. Maybe, as is the case with this album, they are more about building up feelings through layers of sound rather than impressing with melody and lyrics. In that way, the similarities to Gilmour period Pink Floyd (one of Mr Vince's musical influences) are noted and when words are used - as in "Clouds" - the effect is not unlike that of Mark Northfield's music. To Mr Vince's credit, whilst these songs usually take the scenic route, they don't often lose direction. "The Laden Trees" was guilty of being more like soundtrack cue than a song but, overall, the songs are well focussed and easy to listen to.
At the risk of confusing matters, this is an album that is best appreciated when you are not really listening to it. Sounds a bit paradoxical but the emphasis here is certainly more on creating mood than getting you to sing along or demonstrate your dancing skills. It's hard to explain. If I listened directly (as you would do when reviewing it) to it then my attention soon wandered but if I just happened to have the album playing in the background, then it seemed to work really well. I reckon that was the way it was designed.