Every now and then an album takes you by surprise, and rarely is it a big name from a big label. In the ambient genre, this is 2002’s hands down winner for me. Lucky Pierre (aka Aidan Moffat) – Hypnogigia is a contemplative blend of downtempo ambient electronica, on the small Melodic Iabel. Containing a richly textured brew of strings and often classical backdrops, Hypnogogia is brilliantly accentuated by the warm analogue tones of its eighties linn drums and moog squelches, with a dash of modern electronica thrown in. It all fits together magnificently to provide a collection of tracks that have that rare quality of enveloping warmth and atmosphere.

There is nothing flashy or contrived about Hypnogogia, just pure simple ideas reaching their maximum potential through the use of well crafted and considered musicianship. Tracks such as ‘Ghost Two’ pull on the heart strings achingly, whilst ‘The Heart Of All That Is’ and ‘Nurse Flamingo’ are just perfect for sitting in front of a log fire with a sherry in your hand and passing out in a state of contemplative bliss. ‘Shatterproof’ meanwhile, with its omnipresent marching percussion and war-like remembrance, reaches a beautifully optimistic ending, with soaring strings, swirling around the protective brass calling card of its finale. By the time you reach track 5 you already feel as though you have had more than you expect for your money, yet the beautifully isolated violins of ‘Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child’ are sure to have you reaching for the tissue box again.

There are few albums where you can genuinely say there isn’t a single bad track and fewer still that are capable of taking you to another place as effectively as this. It’s a rare and difficult task to achieve and possibly the ultimate accolade for any album, yet Hypnogogia appears to have achieved this effortlessly. Unmissable.