Amazon.co.uk Afro Celt Sound System's first album Sound Magic was a revolutionary and largely successful attempt to blend the ancient traditions of Celtic and African music with touches of techno to create an uplifting and new--yet nevertheless primeval--sound to cater for brain, hips and soul. Its follow-up, Release, obviously has a very similar motivation behind it, yet manages to avoid being a simple retread by emphasising the dancey aspects of the music somewhat more and by blending the instrumentation into a rather denser and more organic sound. Despite certain changes in personnel, the greater coherence is certainly not due to less-varied instrumentation--uilleann pipes and hurdy gurdys sit alongside tabla drums, Celtic harp, kora, flute and many others as well as additional programming input from Ron Asian. The opening track, "Release", features guest vocals from Sinead O'Connor over a backbeat of powerful drumming; several tracks, including "Lovers Of Light", follow a similar percussion-heavy style. Others are more explicitly dance-floor numbers, like "Big Cat" (with its soft-edged yet frantic beat), "Hypnotica" and the freak-out "Riding The Waves". A more ambient feel is delivered by "Amber" and "Urban Aire". Overall, a successful album that could never have managed to be as surprising as its predecessor but nonetheless manages to break enough new ground to keep the experience fresh. --James Swift Product description Brand New