Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds/Amorphous Androgynous
Shoot a Hole into the Sun
Sour Mash
Released: Monday 5 March 2012
8/10

Following the release of 'Setting Sun', Noel Gallagher's collaboration with The Chemical Brothers in 1996, there was a widely held belief, fuelled by comments from Noel himself, that Oasis's third album, Be Here Now, would see the band begin to develop a more experimental, psychedelic sound. Obviously with the benefit of hindsight, we know that this turned out to be a load of nonsense - if there was the influence of one drug written all over the at times brash and over-the-top Be Here Now, it was Colombia's finest rather than the perception-shifting LSD that the Gallaghers' heroes The Beatles used to fuel their most out-there material.

This is 2012, however, and it is easy to get the impression that Gallagher's recent talk of boundary-pushing in his forthcoming collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous (also known as The Future Sound of London) may contain a little more substance than in the past. One need only listen to the Amorphous Androgynous remix of 'Falling Down', the original version of which appeared on the last Oasis album, Dig Out Your Soul, to ascertain that they may be a little better at coaxing Gallagher into pushing himself musically than others have been. They re-titled 'Falling Down' for the remix, naming it 'A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble', which is as good a description of how it sounds, as you'll find. Flutes, sitars and something that sounds suspiciously like a spaceship taking off all make an appearance, not to mention its 22 minute running time.

It was disappointing, then, to read last month that, instead of the collaboration album with Amorphous Androgynous being released in the autumn of this year as originally planned, Gallagher has delayed its release to the start of next year. It is understandable, however, that the success of his debut as Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds has meant that emphasis has been placed on not throwing away the momentum that has been gained by hastily releasing a record that's not fully ready. To tide us over until then is this re-tooling of recent single 'If I Had a Gun', re-titled 'Shoot a Hole into the Sun', and released as a b-side to new single 'Dream On'.

Opening with scratchy violins and tentative stabs at an organ, the track quickly morphs into a laid-back groove reminiscent of the spaced-out jams that filled Yeasayer's first album, All Hour Cymbals. The vocals are regularly smothered in reverb, and the song periodically slows down to just Noel's plaintive harmonies and a repeated chant of "The sun, the sun, the sun". It is in this sense that 'Shoot a Hole into the Sun' also reminds of Primal Scream's 'Screamadelica' (the song from the Dixie-Narco EP, not the album of the same name), in the way it occasionally breaks down, only to launch right back into a lolloping groove that continues where it left off. These break-downs are also complimented by fret-work on the guitar which sounds oddly reminiscent of The Mighty Boosh's 'The New Sound' - so utterly brilliant, basically.

As great as the debut High Flying Birds album was, it was hardly the hugest departure from Oasis. 'Shoot a Hole into the Sun' suggests that it may be on the second album that their sound really grows wings.