Different Colours

  In the realms of modern-day late night ambient exploration, Marconi Union often draw comparisons with Brian Eno and Biosphere, perhaps Sigur Ros, but the graceful manner with which their richly melodic com-positions unfold and the emotions these evoke sets them apart from their peers. Even Time Magazine re-cently hailed one of their tracks, Weightless, as "aural bliss", and placed it at no 11 in their Top 50 Inventions of 2011. Across five albums, informed as much by Jamaican Dub as Joy Division, there are streaks of black humour and pools of shimmering beauty revealed in their slow undulating groove. And however bleak things might sometimes sound, there's always a glimmer of hope, a faint glint on the horizon.    Marconi Union's new album, Different Colours, their sixth, is the first to prominently feature the work of pia-nist Duncan Meadows, who joined the group initially for live duties and was asked into the fold more permanently in 2010. Playful and brighter, Different Colours is aptly named and finds Marconi Union shifting the focus from cool introspection to a friendlier, dynamic sound pierced in places by electric guitar and hushed vocals.