Review: Vanishing Twin – Ookii Gekkou

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Just as the year begins to go down the toilet, with the onset of autumn and the inevitable slow plod towards yet another ‘Corona winter’, Vanishing Twin return with a blissed-out interstellar excursion to see us through. 

Ookii Gekkou — The group’s third album — sees the quintet channelling ever-distant worlds and transmitting a spectrum of far-out sounds. Melding the Moog-funk of Roger Roger, the mechanical soul of Can and the spiritual grooves of Leon Thomas and Sun Ra to incredible effect. 

Though references to fellow retro-futurists Stereolab — Laetitia Sadier plays guitar on Wider than Itself — and Broadcast are obvious, Ookii Gekkou is a tribute to the group’s particular ability to paint their sound canvas with a broad brush. Whether it’s the motorik funk of Phase One Million, the Afrocentric-spirit-jazz of In Cucina or the utterly brilliant space pop of Light Vessel, which sounds like Can re-imagined through the lens of ELO, the sound is unmistakably Vanishing Twin.

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