The Phantom Tollbooth
Reformation
Artist: Secret Archives of the Vatican
Label: UK indie
Time: 16 tracks/70:48

Not a group of Roman Catholic priests, but rather a duo from South London attempting to push the boundaries of Christian music, Secret Archives of the Vatican's eleventh album sees them experimenting with a mixture of the Asian and dance sounds currently popular in Britain's underground clubs with Middle Eastern melodies, a touch of the musical heritage of the British Isles, and a wide variety of instruments. This album is certainly a step up in quality from Turquoise, its predecessor, and probably a little more populist in style.

The sounds are diverse but fit together well. Underpinning everything are a diverse set of programmed beats ranging through techno, jungle, and breakbeat. These genres are not limits to the music, however - synthesisers also help lay the bottom layer and produce some hypnotic sounds. Secret Archives's founder, Vince Millett, is not one to stick with tradition in his music, and many a time the music moves away from the traditional western scales to engage with the music of other cultures. Samples are used to good effect, everything from running water to distorted voices. Vocal samples are occasionally brought in, usually in Arabic, giving the whole album something of an Eastern theme. Middle-Eastern folk music has obviously been a strong influence, and the sleeve notes mix English and Arabic words for the Bible, some of its books, and Christ. The sleeve notes are simple, but well laid out. A little text is included for each track, ranging from "What a beast!!!" ("Veena Riff Monster") to Bible quotations. Most of the tracks seem to have been inspired by meditations on aspects of God and his works, and while this is not obvious in all the music, it comes out occasionally as various vocal samples are incorporated. Mostly, this album is a little laidback for early on in a club session, but perhaps this would be a popular choice when a chill-out session or something trancier is required. An exception to this is track twelve, "Concerning Prophecy," which pushes the tempo up a little with a pulsing beat and the spoken words:

Secret Archives of the Vatican are very fond of their artistic license, and wary of record labels. The quality here is high, but there are times when I think that a label and a producer would have helped to tidy up the odd rough edge or notch the quality up slightly. Nevertheless, this release shows that home studios have advanced a long way in the last few years and is sure to please those dance fans looking for something more diverse or progressive rock fans who don‘t mind embracing club culture and are looking for something a little different.

By James Stewart (8/14/98)