DEMO DEN GARY ASQUITH: Wonders Never Cease - This ambient experimenter certainly knows how to push back the boundaries. He draws on influences like Pink Floyd, samples speech from films and even manages to get his 91-year-old grandad Bertie to sing a touching poem about the meaning of life from his rest home.

Gary, originally from Accrington but now living in Burnley, uses samples from other ambient tunes and plays instruments including guitar and keyboard on this full-length album. The sounds are certainly contemplative but at the slow, moody style can try the listener's patience. The idea of using church bells and birdsong was first tried by Pink Floyd in the 1960s but at least they kept it mercifully brief.

You certainly need to be in the right frame of mind to get enjoyment from these strange dabblings.

PAUL BARRY

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