The third, and supposedly final Shpongle album, which seems rather a pity because having just discovered Shpongle I am more than a little impressed. Nothing Lasts But Nothing Is Lost has been marketed as an ambient album, but that appears a little misleading -there are far too many uptempo beats littered all over this extraordinary album to call it that.

Simon Posford & Raja Ram are the twosome behind this orgy of ethereal electronica, a 20-track album that sounds like few I’ve encountered before. This is a tour de force of sophisticated, electronic-driven world music, featuring Brazilan beats, flamenco guitars, soaring ethnic vocals and trancey synth tracks that bristle with lush melodies and a rich vein of ideas. From the first track to the last, Nothing Lasts never stops metamorphosing and re-energising itself, each track expertly blended into the next, and more often than not, memorable in their own way.

The album begins in ambient fashion, with Botanical Dimensions, where blurred children’s chants and melodic chimes build into crisp beats and winding bass notations overlapping the sound of Amazonian birdsong. In turn, this drifts into Outer Shpongolia, where vibey acoustic guitars play melodically before enchanting female vocals wind over trippy beats. Later in the track there’s some very clever vocal manipulation, insinuating that Shpongle’s sound is not only captivatingly melodic, but contemporary and explorative. Levitation Nation then explodes into life, a deep club track augmented by a sea of flamenco guitars – beautifully produced – this can’t fail to move you.

Ok, so far you’re probably thinking “So what? This is nothing that Deep Forest, Enigma or Delerium haven’t already done?” But Shpongle soon blast that theory out the window – as Schmaltz Herring sees the duo produce the sort of spikey club trance remix that blows away the manufactured remixed dross that many labels come up with. In other words, this is dancefloor fare that doesn’t sell out, all Shpongles own work and ideas, and As Schmaltz Herring fades out, it mutates into a haunting, dark piano track that spirals into a feast of weird and wonderful electronic transformations.

Elswhere, …But Nothing Is Lost features weirdly psychedelic synth solos, merged with a mixture of live and programmed percussion, before fascinating with some clever programmed electro-trickery. As the album continues it gets increasingly bizarre, almost too eclectic for its own good, as songs morph themselves inside-out in a state of constant flux, it’s hard to tell where one starts and another ends, but every 3 or 4 minutes it the album tends to return to a consistent theme.

Other highlights? Try Invocation, which is on a par with Natacha Atlas, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Shpongle ever reaches the depths of authenticity that Dead Can Dance might provide, they’re too busy getting busy. Besides, Molecular Superstructure is more comparable to Amon Tobin than anything else – another excellent instrumental track.

The totality of Nothing Lasts really is almost undescribable, this is such a rich and varied album – and it never seems to end, it’s like a runaway train of ideas. There’s more going on in this album than 10 Enigma albums, and it’s certainly a kick up the arse for the saccarine sweet dross that Delerium have been producing lately. Both should see it as a challenge to get back to their best. Highly recommended.