Robin Guthrie / Mark Gardener - Universal Road

2015 collaboration between Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins) and Mark Gardener (Ride). Their former bands work ought to give hints as to where a collaboration between the pair might lead, but this remarkable new album has it's own chemistry and is an unexpected treasure from the two well established artists. The pairing of Guthrie and Gardener might, at first glance, be expected to deliver a very particular brand of guitar-driven euphoria, however, Universal Road, defies expectations across ten tracks whose diversity is one of the album's great strengths. At a time when fascination with the shoegaze movement of the late '80s and early '90s is enjoying a revival, whether it be through band reformations-including the forthcoming reunion of Gardener's former band Ride-or adulatory documentaries-2014's Beautiful Noise-it can be easy to acquire a form of nostalgic tunnel vision. Guthrie and Gardener's Universal Road leads US in a fresh direction.