If dance music is currently in crisis, where does that leave its ambient cousin? If Kinobe are anything to go by, the answer is exactly where it was five years ago. Wide Open, their third album, drifts in on a wave of soothing sounds and samples and all of a sudden we’re chilling like its 1999.
Trouble is, it wasn’t that interesting a concept first time round and it hasn’t aged well. They haven’t exactly tinkered with the formula either, drafting in a series of guest vocalists to fill out their sound. Some do a good job – as with Terry Callier’s turn on ‘Moonlight And Messcaline’ – but Belle & Sebastian’s Isobel Campbell just sounds wet, no real help when the musical background is equally lacklustre. The pace gets upped a little in the second half and although the results are a little more engaging, Kinobe are still lacking that killer touch. Their collaborations with Xan come closest, particularly ‘Keep Playing’, but the effect is ruined by the following ‘Whirling Round’, with its ‘Listen With Mother’ sample raising the spectre of some terrible nineties rave tune.
Kinobe may scan the horizon and see only clear skies but unless they can sharpen up their act there could be storms brewing in the distance.