Global Communication - 76:14:00

Aged to perfection, '76:14:00' is described as an 'unfathomably beautiful out-of-time masterpiece' in The Guardian's '1,000 Albums to Hear Before You Die' list. Certainly, on release it was clear that it was something special, and not just because it was named after it's total running time (though in fact it is shorter) and each track is also titled after it's respective length. Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard, the duo behind Global Communication and other aliases, stated in the sleeve notes that this was intended to avoid the implication that there was any specific meaning or subject matter to their compositions, leaving the listener free to interpret it according to their own imagination. And as the record is a certified classic of 1990s ambient and electronic experimentalism (clearly influenced by greats like Vangelis and Brian Eno), sweetly melodic, soothing and largely beatless, it is almost impossible to listen to it without eliciting extreme relaxation and flights of mental fancy.