Diversions 1994-1996 vinyl

In his younger days Lee Gamble was a jungle DJ, and it's hard not to see Diversions as an example of what the record's press release describes as an example of "cued recall", aiming to trigger latent memories in those familiar with the source material. But for those unfamiliar with the genre or the mid-90s culture surrounding it, it's the palpable sense of immersion that makes Diversions so engaging. Gamble's extensive experience in software-based composition for Entr'acte is used to draw every nuance out of the physical source material; the ecstatic stillness and oddly pitched drones of "M25 Echo" for instance recall Oneohtrix Point Never's sense of the otherworldly, but soaked in tape crackle that places you right between the spools. In a sense, Diversions feels like an album about a lost and oft-mythologised element of British culture; as Ghost Box's releases tend to present a Wicker Man-inspired take on English village life, Diversions is an album that takes mid-90s dance music nostalgia and places it the context of a damp, foggy corner of the English countryside, providing an elegy not just for jungle, but for an era of dance music largely ended by the Criminal Justice Act of 1994.

Skudge, Juno Recommends Experimental, Joe Montana, Kondaktor, Paul Cooper