I have yet to hear Robin Taylor’s seventh or eighth releases, both of which were released just as ‘Robin Taylor’ or his ninth which was a group effort with Communio Musica, so I have no real way of knowing what the background was leading into his tenth album but I do know that while there are links to his earlier works this is in many ways something completely different. Robin provided many more instruments than normal, including many different types of samples, and he was just joined on this release by Karsten Vogel (saxophones), with Jan Fischer and Loiuse Nipper providing some voices. This is an album that is very much experimental, but here Robin is going more into ambient and New Age and mixing that with the jazz forms he is more normally associated with.

Yes, there are times when Karsten is at the forefront, but often this is just one man mixing together sounds to create a trance-like world of his own creation, one where there are no real rules. This is music to get lost inside – it seems multi-layered and constructed, yet at the same time those constructs are like gossamer, ready to fly away in the most gentle breeze. I cannot see how anyone playing “BTI” can fail to be moved by the sheer innocence beauty of it all.

This is a truly superb album and while it may not be indicative of his canon, as a piece of art this stands on its’ own merits.

Robin Taylor's Universe