The Keyboard Choir began in the Winter of 2004 in Oxford. Their idea was to create music using purely electronic sources - keyboards, synths, drum machines, samplers, sound FX and laptops. On this, their debut, they've completely succeeded in creating alternate soundscapes that may have been created artificially but that sound remarkably organic and alive.

Mitzen Head To Gascanane Sound acts as a more accessible counterpoint to Fuck Buttons recent masterpiece Street Horrrsing. There's similarities between their music which sprouts through the same electronic scrawl. It just so happens that the Keyboard Choir have mined a richer, more accessible seam than their Bristolian musical cousins. The 6-minute sprawl of 'Legal Boards' flows through a series of clipped beats and budding strings, a sinister piercing guitar threads through it before bursting into wall of noise. The beats still the focal point off which the rest of the music precariously hangs. The music frequently has two concurrent, but opposing, themes. The music box intro to 'Macondo' with some skittish and delicate clips of noise seemingly spiralling around it before the darker side takes control. There's excerpts from, what sounds like, 50's nuclear war discussions as the more sinister half of the song wrestles for control. 'Bugs' continues this sinister, nuclear armageddon feel as a public service announcement arcs over their skittish noise.

It's impossible to second guess what's going to come next. Their intelligent use of samples, spoken word interludes and their own sense of brooding power combines wonderfully. The second half of the album continues this ferocious building. The music becomes a bit more spiritual, other-worldly as it harks to some of the works Ulrich Shnauss has released. The evocative galactic feel of 'Skylab' with it's mesmeric sound of "space" and angelic twists of music is a real standout. And this is all before the behemoth of the final track 'Electrical Unity'. Beginning with a Natural History lesson about insects, it ebbs and flows like the primordial soup from which is came. Taking in all the outposts previously touched on it's journey here, it's a fitting epitaph for an amazing record.

This is a debut record so full of ideas that the twelve tracks on offer here barely scrape the surface of what they can achieve. Support independent labels; support independent music - buy this album. It's as easy as that. 90%mp3:> Keyboard Choir: 'Bugs'Links Keyboard Choir [myspace]