The Future Sound Of London – Environment Six

Environment Six marks a turning point in FSOL's career. Having spent the best part of a decade building up a new sound through the Environments series, starting by reworking archived material, expanding into modern classical territory and finally creating new albums (including 2015's Life in Moments) that combined Brian Dougans's love of hauntological electronics, modern classical, and elements of Gaz Cobain's more psychedelic rock-oriented Amorphous Androgynous sound, the FSOLDigital path suddenly veered sharply to the left and headed into new territory. Six's partner album, 6.5, feels like a halfway step between those earlier records and this, but then FSOL never did things the easy way.

Eschewing both the guitar-drums-piano format and the modern classical melancholia of earlier volumes, as well as avoiding the group's sample-heavy 3D headspace approach of the '90s, Environment Six instead heads straight into pure electronica territory, with the majority of the album's tracks being dark IDM miniatures, built around skittering glitchy beats and minor key synth arpeggios. FSOL were always the least electronic sounding of electronic music's big names, with such a heavy emphasis on samples that many of their tracks barely featured obvious synths or drum machines at all. That is completely reversed here, with a move towards pure electronica on many pieces. There are still more typically FSOL moments, such as the acoustic ambience of 'Mountain Path', the tribal percussion of 'Motioned' and the pure atmospherics of 'Forest Soundbed', but on the whole this is the most overtly 'electronic' work at this point in the band's catalogue.

After a couple of more obviously emotion-forward albums, Environment Six finds FSOL moving once more into visually evocative territory, with the dark, almost claustrophobic sound being reminiscent of ancient woodland or dangerous craggy mountains. Indeed, the stylistic shift as well as the move away from the more human sound is particularly surprising given Cobain's enthusiasm, less than a year before, for continuing the sound of Life in Moments towards a new FSOL album. The sound here is closest to the hauntological Electric Brain Storms series of mixes and Brian's experimental analogue synth project Synthi A. It is perhaps unsurprising that it was around this time that Cobain began to post videos of him recording songs for the new Amorphous Androgynous album on Facebook...

Environment Six isn't an easy album. It's easily the most stylistically homogenous FSOL record, as well as the darkest. Those wishing for the epic beauty of the earlier Environments or the head-expanding sonics of the '90s albums may find it a struggle. For those who come to FSOL for evocative soundscapes to sink into - even if they are as unwelcomingly dark as this one - however, there is a lot to love here.

Released simultaneously alongside Environment 6.5 - both recorded together during a short but hugely productive period of a few months - Environment Six finds FSOL continuing to develop their sound in unpredictable ways. The albums are quite strangely numbered, as 6.5 actually feels like the halfway house between Five and Six, blending Five's large-scale psychedelics with the heavily electronic sound found here. Still, focusing on content rather than chronology, this album offers a sublime selection of some of the band's more electronics-heavy material to date.

The album was recorded at the same time Dougans and Cobain were helping develop two synthesisers with electronics company Digitana, and for the first time that sound becomes the focus of the FSOL world, rather than their famed sample-collage approach. Much of the album was recorded during a series of live jams at Dougans's studio, and features the kind of "euphoric sadness" Cobain has often talked of in the band's tunes. Intricate rhythmic programming, melancholic synth arpeggios, bitterweet melodies and neo-new-age chords blend to create a series of electronic miniatures that defy easy genre description. There are hints of IDM and braindance here, traces of '70s-inspired hauntology, and a general sense of ambient, but overall the album feels unique. Highlights include the stark loneliness of 'Lichaen', the heartbreakingly beautiful 'Symphony for Halia' and the sinister, rumbling 'Leak Stereo 70'.

Despite much of the album being in a similar vein, this is a Future Sound of London record, and as such, variety is always present. 'Motioned' and 'Meanders' throw loose acoustic percussion into the mix, while 'Mountain Path' and 'Beyond the Field of Vision' feature acoustic guitar. Many of the shorter pieces tie the album together nicely, although in a much more abstract way than we're used to with FSOL: field recordings and odd filtered sounds are the other of the day, rather than the spoken samples and psychedelic collages of old.

The overall mood of the album is sinister and foreboding, despite the numerous pretty melodies scattered throughout. Synth drones, reverbed field recordings and numerous uncategorisable sounds combine to paint a picture of dark woodlands and desolate moors; when acoustic percussion is used, it is in a way that suggests an ancient procession or ceremony ing. Dougans lives in an old church, next to a forest, on the intersection of nine leylines. One can feel that very environment permeating every aspect of this album. Mood-wise, it occupies a similar space to the group's Electric Brainstorms radio mixes, and their hauntological side projects such as Blackhill Transmitter and Synth-A.

Environment Six is certainly one of the band's least accessible albums, with its bleak, foreboding atmosphere and abstract elements making it feel like a patchwork of the band's most haunted tracks (the patchwork aspect fits right down to strange 30 second interludes like 'Seq/-9'). Those who enjoy the expansive, otherworldliness of albums like Lifeforms and ISDN will find themselves more at home with the sister album Environment 6.5. But for those who give it time, Six provides a hugely rewarding listening experience, and one of the band's most harrowingly realistic sound-worlds to date.