Sunstroke - Nothing's Wrong in Paradise

Sunstroke's absurdly obscure Nothing's Wrong in Paradise was first released in 1985, the work of Ben Bollaert and Etienne Delaruye who had tasked themselves with producing a score to a film that did not exist. Reissue culture has really got us by the balls, hasn't it? Represses of records that barely existed that were made for films that never did, not so much in love with a world that's gone, as longing for one that never was. Ersatz nostalgia possibly, much needed escapism most certainly. If monetising the past means a break from the present, don't let me slow you down. Nothing's Wrong in Paradise fits broadly into the same vaporous space as much of the Music From Memory catalogue (Gaussian Curve, Gigi Masin et al), a broad-stroke synthesis of Berlin School and Kangyo Ongaku electronics, and ECM spatialism. Sometimes this kind of thing is a little rich for my blood, but Bollaert and Delaruye often prove themselves to have a keen ear for the right sort of tone and texture: just as you think they're spiralling off out forever into the ether, they draw you back in - see the central string refrain on Boat People, a moment of pastoral beauty amidst the synthetic impressionism. Above the clouds, awake in the dream, off out in innerspace music - ideal for when you don't wanna be reminded of which way the wind is blowing.