Artist Astromill Title Astromill Format/Cat CD NW 10032-2 Label: Decadance Style Ninthwave Date of review October 2005 Reviewer Vlad Rating 9.5/10 Back to top

Astromill is the musical vision of Sheryl McMillan, US-born but now living in Kent & what a fine debut album she has come up with, sitting well within the realms of synthpop but scoring highly through the adventurous use of sound while the excellent production acts proves to be an important element in the album's appeal, promoting an almost surreal, dream-like atmosphere. Just as importantly, McMillan proves herself to be an excellent songwriter & vocalist with a voice that is, like her music, expressive, emotive & totally unique, so much so that the only likenesses I could detect were some slight Numan similarities in the wordless vocals of "Do Without" while some of the riffs that grace "Yesterday's News" bring some of Numan's mid-80s work to mind, in combination with tribal rhythms & gutsy synthleads. Such an approach pays off throughout, starting with the robust & atmospheric "No Stranger" which kicks off proceedings in earnest, following the spacey prologue that is "Spaceblade 2001" & continuing with the imposing rhythms & excellent sequencing of "A Different Emotion" while "Hello Heaven?" is similarly imposing in feel with a more robust rhythmic & sonic delivery. It's this mixing of the unique with the accessable that is this album's greatest strength with the almost bittersweet "Not In Love With 'Love'" & "Stranded In Manchester" both benefitting from the Astromill magic. The instrumental "Technosphere" in particular does its best to keep you guessing, starting with trance-like sequences which are then matched with almost jazzy rhythms to make for a short but action-packed interlude. In fact, the only time it doesn't quite hit the spot is during "Keep Your Distance", which is just too wishy-washy, despite the solid rhythms while the closing "Home" similarly fails to live up to its promising opening. These moans aside, it's refreshing to hear an artist that has actually taken the time to develop a style of their own & the rewards are obvious as this is a quite superb debut that deserves widespread acclaim.