Review: Vanishing Twin – Ookii Gekkou

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.