UTOPIA STRONG, THE - The Utopia Strong (Sealed) (LP)

The combined forces of Steve Davis, Kavus Torabi (Gong/Cardiacs/Knifeworld/Guapo) and Michael J. York (Coil/Teleplasmiste/Guapo) have arrived at no less than a modular driven kosmische colossus of transcendent power enough to drive all talk of green baize firmly into the blue yonder. With Davis' modular geometry and ambient structures weaving with Torabi's keen and skewed sense of melody and York's various gifts for pipes, drones and fevered abstract - the result is a beguiling tapestry as likely to remind listeners of the countercultural benchmarks of Terry Riley, Cluster and Fripp/Eno as the latervortex-voyages of Emeralds and Seefeel. "The overall sound was pretty accidental" reckons Kavus. "I certainly didn't expect the music to sound so ecstatic and positive, Without wanting to puncture the mystery, there really felt like an element of magic at play in making this album. For the most part it was incredibly effortless" It was never any secret that Davis - even at the peak of his household name status in the 1980s - was as happy putting a needle on a vinyl record as anything else involving a cue. What's more - his music obsession took on new bounds after his retirement from sport in 2016, with his DJ partnership with Torabi taking him to festivals and clubs for many a head-spinning rampage, in which the wide-eyed assembled would be as likely to hear Autechre as Black Sabbath. "In twenty years of making records it's certainly been the easiest and most enjoyable to make" reflects Kavus. "Now, this may have been partly due to us having no preconceptions or expectations but it wasn't just that. There was absolutely no conflict, and we spent a lot of time together working on it - in my experience that's a total fucking miracle" "The personal journey I've been on with Kavus and Mike has been surreal" says Steve. "Probably more so than even the path that unfolded for me in snooker. That was pretty far out but this seems otherworldly!