THE FOCUS GROOP

Stop Motion Happening With The Focus Groop 7/10

Graphic designer Julian House’s artwork has graced sleeves by the likes of Broadcast, Oasis and Primal Scream. His music as The Focus Group – or Groop, as here – feels a lot like his design work: a collage of blurry textures and unusual sonic ephemera, chewed-up library music, snatches of percussion and snippets of speech. Atmospheric and apparently structureless, “Village Of Numbers” and “The Hazy Whom” are drifting Sgt Pepper dreamscapes that long to be accompanied by the swirl of a liquid light show. For all their warm fuzziness, these gentle fantasias are strangely compelling.