Album: Shearwater, The Golden Archipelago (Matador)

Good grief. Mostly the grief is over the (eroding) beauty of nature, which is explored, epically, through the theme of "islands".

And if the grandeur of the vision don't getcha... Well, put it this way: the gravity of the language is matched by the stretch of the music, which reaches and reaches and, as often as not, lands on some island of the fevered heart: waterfall melody, diaphanous chording, ethnic malleting... Progressive? Well, both Talk Talk and Gentle Giant fans will find stuff to enjoy here.