The boy from Barrow-In-Furness gives us his first offering since the 2003 release Means of Production, Flight 602.

AIM (aka Andy Turner) was immersed in music from a young age, being exposed to Jazz and other contemporary styles all through his childhood, generating both an appreciation for a wide range of music and conversely the ability to translate this into his distinctive production style.

Being a fan of the critically acclaimed Cold Water Music (1999) and the subsequent release Hinterland (2002), I was interested to hear how AIM would progress his individual style for this album. Comprised of twelve songs, the album seems to vacillate between structured syncopation for the most part and a sampledelic freefall subtly drawn from many genres. This is not surprising to the seasoned listener; AIM lists influences as diverse as The Smiths to Nirvana.

Overall the album exhibits an organic sound that captures an almost folk ethic on tracks such as Walking Home Through The Park, this is contrasted by tightly edited breaks that are a trademark of AIM’s downtempo production. However this is not a uniform formula, other songs such as Northwest & Birchwood conjure visions of a 60’s jazz bar, complete with psychedelic overtones reminiscent of Roy Ayers.

Songs such as Pier 57 stood out for me, this is a fantastic aural journey utilizing a summer vibe characterized by the album’s trademark break driven arrangements. If you close your eyes during this one the sound becomes eerily like the early offerings of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd. It takes the listener back to a time of big beat culture and the associated diversity in sound during that musical era. Whilst this is downtempo at its finest, ironically the song was written as a tribute to anti –Bush demonstrators incarcerated in temporary detention during the 2004 Republican Convention.

Other tracks such as Landlord highlight minimalist influences, AIM’s delayed exposure to deeper US house sounds later in his formative years are paid tribute here, this ethic also seems to be apparent in the title track Flight 602.

Considering that AIM once felt “distraught & flummoxed” at the rise of dance music, his conversion to all things electronic has resulted in a release that is at once distinctive yet familiar, laidback yet energetic, encompassing a range of influences and styles. As a whole I was struck by the subtle way much of the album was constructed from such diversity, however a couple of factors reduced my overall positive opinion. Firstly there is an abundance of similar vocals throughout many of the songs that I feel detracts from the album. The use of different vocalists or even in some cases the removal of vocals (Puget Sound for example) would enhance the track greatly. This particular vocal has homogenized the album, detracting from the overall distinctive arrangements in these songs. I also began to tire slightly of the similarity of breaks used in a number of songs, at times I was reminded of that uncomfortable period mid nineties when the questionable genre “trip hop” made its first appearance – in this reviewer’s opinion many sounds during that era were characterized by their blandness and at times Flight 602 seems to be meandering towards that mediocre ground, thankfully the sample driven arrangements within most songs counterbalances this.

All in All I would recommend this album to both AIM and downtempo fans alike, but I would also suggest listening to benchmark releases such as Cold Water Music for some perspective on AIM the artist.

Rating: 7/10

For an AIM discography and related artist information visit Atic Records - AIM

For comments on this review go to:
http://www.teknoscape.com.au/forums/showthread.php?p=1218893

Track Listings
1. Intro #3 
2. Walking Home Through The Park 
3. Northwest 
4. Puget Sound 
5. Pier 57 
6. Smile 
7. Landlord 
8. Aberdeen 
9. Birchwood 
10. Flight 602 
11. Interview 
12. It's Later Than You Think 

This was a RTRFM Full Frequency album feature.