Shpongle: Tales of the Inexpressible (2LP) [TWISTED]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 2LP set gives the duo's most expansive album four full sides. Raja Ram adds Spanish and East Asian instruments to his flute, and Posford brings classical guitar to the synths, so the palette is far wider than the debut.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Remastered

About the album

Second albums tend to be where a sound either settles down or wanders off to see the world. Shpongle chose the second option. Working again in Posford's Dorset studio, the pair took the template of Are You Shpongled? and widened it with live players: Michele Adamson and Abigail Gorton on vocals, Harry Escott on cello, Pete Callard on acoustic guitar. Kevin Metcalfe handled the remastering at The Soundmasters.

"Dorset Perception" opens with a nod to Aldous Huxley and a hat tip to the studio's home county, "Star Shpongled Banner" finds the duo at full gallop, and "A New Way To Say 'Hooray!'" layers spoken word over choir samples. "Room 2ૐ" puts the Om symbol in its very title, and "Shpongleyes" borrows a line of dialogue from the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet before "Flute Fruit" brings everything home.

It's the album where the flamenco guitar, the flute and the electronics stop sounding like guests and start sounding like one band. Raja Ram also painted the watercolours for the artwork, which makes him the rare flautist who also gets the credit for the sleeve.

Also at Kops: more Shpongle on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Twisted (cat# TWSLP13RM21), a reissue of the 2001 album.