ENIGMA A POSTERIORI ALBUM EMI RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 27, 2006 REVIEW: OCTOBER 20, 2006

This new Enigma album is a far cry from the sexy and extremely popular first revelations from the project. “A Posteriori” is more laid back space-themed electronica than before, and as always Michael Cretu knows his way around the mixing desk. Seen as a soundtrack to a science fiction movie about the exploration of space, it works well.

My main problem with it is that it’s unsexy and also mostly nondescript, as it doesn’t grab me at all. Some tracks like “Message from Io” are even a bit annoying.

Lately I found myself listening a lot to a Sandra collection called "Ten on One", which shows off Michael’s music writing talent. “A Posteriori” does not. This is what we in Sweden might call “gubbsynth”, ie stodgy music made by the electronic variant of Rolling Stones.

It’s a bit Jean-Michel Jarre-esque at times as well, especially in the actually quite thrilling “The Alchemist”. It's my favourite track but it doesn’t really rescue the album from being middle-of-the-road though.

JOHAN CARLSSON