Age of Loneliness Review (Joar Grimstvedt)

The cover is rather special, because it's very different from any of the other covers. It is not of any mythological or religious content, nor is it a photo. It seems like a drawing from the 1920s. The drawing is of an Indian magician doing some stuff, like playing a flute and up comes a snake, only that it is what looks like toys coming up from a box. The background is white. As for the CD itself, it is red, with a star sign map in black.

The visual appearance strays away from the previous three releases. The font used for the text, both on the spine and elsewhere is not the typewriter one, but a standard one. For the cover there is special logo for the artist name and the title.

Radio Edit

The Radio Edit is just that, a shortened version of the track you find on the album. Some seconds have been lost in the intro, and it fades out at what is around 4:40 on the album.

Enigmatic Club Mix

The main new mix on this single is the Enigmatic Club Mix. It is indeed very 'club', with a bass line that lies still at the same note. The track opens in the same was as the Goetterdaemmerung Mix of The Eyes Of Truth - ambient sounds with the main ethnic chant running once through. The bass drum kicks in just before the 1 minute mark, and is a simple quarter note thing. Together with the bass line it makes for a very powerful and thumping sound.

There are various sounds which play around in the background throughout the track. These include a flanged jetsound, the sounds of knives, and of pots and pans. In sections the track is similar to the Hypnotic Mix of Culture Beat's Got To Get It. Gad and Cretu may have sampled from that particular track - I haven't checked. Yello and Kraftwerk are other artists that spring to mind during the track. The famous Yello brass sound is used during a section. The Kraftwerk connection lies in the use of morse code sounds. Both the new mixes (Enigmatic Club Mix and Clubby Radio Edit) has the morse code sounds in the beginning of the track. It works rather OK, but can be a bit tiresome, especially on the Enigmatic Club Mix. I haven't tried to spell out what the morse code means, but it probably doesn't mean anything.

• Look at the other Age of Loneliness review