5 out of 5

Label: Fonolith

Produced by: Neil Scrivin

Under his own name, Neil Scrivin has released work that’s generally narrative, varying between ambient soundtracks and imagined “futures;” both of these takes could said to be alternate realties, essentially – scoring someone else’s experience; secondhand storytelling. “This Has No Longer Been the Future” – once more made some years ago and rereleased on Neil’s Fonolith label – is the first of the Fonolith rereleases that feels like a first-person tale; fittingly it has been the last release under Scrivin’s own name for at least a while, flipping to pseudonyms The Night Monitor and Doomlode for at least five or six years following, if not more by the time you read this.

If you want to read into the album title and its themes, and boy do I, all of this syncs up: fascinated by these other worlds, Neil had been crafting retro electronica and exploratory ambience, up until a certain point when such things no longer hold the promise they once did, and the future collapses into the present. “This Has No Longer Been…” starts with that promise, celebrating the colorful rebelliousness of 1980 in opener “Back in 1980,” and some of the inherent excitement of the growing accessibility of science and technology in the sci-fi “Science of the Concrete” and funky “Tape Control Center.” It’s not that all of these songs are hunky dory, but they exist in recognizable realms. Midway through, we get some reflection on Jodrell Bank; a pause in the beats. This is then followed up by “Roentgens,” a radiation-related term that can’t help but conjure mid-decade fears spurred by Chernobyl, with followup “Secretive Sequentials” now steeped in the paranoia that one might find in the works of those later pseudonyms.

This cycle not only makes for a nicely varied emotional palette, it also allows for / creates a perfect sequence for the listener of ups and downs. Set as an EP, the length of this is perfect, leaving enough room for each track to land and absorb, before we shift into the next stage. Representative images in the cover art help to sell that my read isn’t fully b.s.

“This Has No Longer Been The Future” is a compressed experience, but the songs are tailored to run at the appropriate pace – relatively happier times are shorter; the moody stuff is longer. It makes for one of Neil’s most complete albums-as-stories, while still serving up wholly grooving, memorable beats.