This week I have received the final completed new album from Alba Beat (Gary Taylor) called "From Silence and then". Up until this point I had heard 5 of the tracks to be included on the album so without further a do let's review this little gem: The album kicks off with a clever little short track called "In To" which crams in some nice sounds in it's 1 minute 42 secs (Pan Pipes, Guitar, a great chugging bass line and electro beat). "From Both Sides" is the albums second track and starts with a haunting bass string which soon merges with some nice pad sounds and intriguing melody (I do like the sound used as the melody section). The track would certainly fit as a soundtrack piece to a film. Great use of sounds and for me and is one of the best pieces of work Gary has done. It is best described as a thought provoking piece of music. Track 3 is a new track called "Healing Blue" and is fantastic with it's piano driven melody and again some excellent string sounds. Very electronic chillout which would fit nicely again as a soundtrack piece. Gary clearly knows how to use string sounds to make an impact and make good use of an overlaying melody line. Next up we have another brand new track "Submerging Sun" which keeps to the formula of excellent pad & string sounds over a nice electro beat. I love the rhythm on this track and the use of a piano on the song works very well. A good chill out track. Track 5 "Advert" is an excellent song with a "Kraftwerk" style rhythm section blended with some super pad sweeps, very enjoyable especially with the "Kraftwerk" influenced drum sequences. "Regenerate The Love" is the next track and a more upbeat track and is well produced, a nice clean rhythm section is the perfect balance to the melody and string parts. It is more dance orientated track. Once again excellent use of sounds especially the little synth break half way through. One of my favorite Alba Beat tracks. I'm starting to feel quite chilled at this point! The 7th track off the album is the brilliant "The City Shines" with excellent pads over a good rhythm track and a superb bass synth which drives the song. A nice catchy melody on this one to. I think this one is on a par with "From Both Sides". As I may have mentioned previously this has a bit of The Human League's "Tokyo City" off their album "Travelogue" about it. "Alba Jams Solo" has been re-worked and the new version does lift the track to a higher level. I especially like the little sequencer sections in this song and the melody synth. It is a track that wouls suit a thriller soundtrack, or even a James Bond movie. Parts of it remind me of Ultravox. This has been a favourite of mine for a while now and the new version seems more complete. Track 9 "Hallow Embers" is Gary's latest track if I remember correctly and it does n't disappoint with it's ethnic beat and percussion mixes with a nice melody line and warm pad sounds. This is a truly stunning track absolutely love the synth sounds he has used and again it reminded me slightly of early Human League. The atmospheric tinged "Lonely Planet" is next and he has captured the spirit of the song title perfectly with some excellent "Space like" sounds. He has put together a clever arrangement on this track and I could see this working very well as a soundtrack piece. "Moving Up To Starglow" is another new track which follows on nicely from the theme of "Lonely Planet", very atmospheric with superb strings and pads. Gary does have a knack of creating a warm atmospheric feeling to his music and this is no exception and sits really well with the rest of the album. The album closes with another short piece called "Out To" which is quite a haunting piece with piano & strings dominating the track This has been a labor of love for a while now for Gary and he has put a lot of work in to this album and it has really paid off. An excellent collection of songs with plenty of depth. Good production throughout the entire album with a strong feeling of continuity though each track. This is certainly an album he should be extremely proud of! 9/10