If the universe is expanding then so is the musical range of these space rock progenitors in the possible latter days of their existence. This record’s starter for thirteen tracks, Can’t Last Forever, has a signature mellotron like misty backdrop seeping through a haze of fuzzed guitar over a doleful rhythmic click track. It’s reassuring musical motifs is also an early warning of the heady brew of dystopian and utopian themes cogitated upon in lyrical and musical form here. Lift off occurs with the launch of Starship (One Love One Life) in which Brock further intones his philosophical ruminations. They are also grounded in the musical fabric of trance, jazz and space-rock freak-out, re-emphasised on What Are We Going To Do While We’re Here, on this companion recording to last year’s outstanding, The Future Never Waits.
Stories…is an amalgam of all the above music stylings and The Tracker is a stonewall Hawkwind abstract groover: (‘I drive my car to the dump…all of this to hear a sound from a a galaxy we have found… is there a life trying to find us here…?’). It’s fertile Brock territory abetted by his compressed fuzzy string theory lead guitar technique weaving throughout it. The sublime Til I Found You treads along in the same deeply made musical footprints.
With Magnus Martin, Richard Chadwick, Doug MacKinnon and Tim ‘Thighpaulsandra’ Lewis also orchestrating the soundscapes, song titles Underwater City, Traveller Of Time & Space (‘I’m just a traveller of time and space carrying a cargo of human waste’), The Black Sea, Frozen In Time and Stargazers could easily translate into Michael Moorcock fantasy book titles. However, these mystical titles contain ecological warnings for our over shared planet. They are delicately wrapped in otherworldly sonic abstractions that were originally birthed in the febrile hippie hotbed of late 60s early 70s Portobello Road and Ladbroke Grove.
Since then, Hawkwind has shape shifted line ups and time travelled through countless galaxies of recordings to this current era of remarkable high productivity. When once they were In Search Of Space, this regenerated iteration brings their universal legions of followers timely Stories…to enlighten, entertain and give hope to a planet seemingly spinning itself into oblivion.
Words by Paul Davies
