Never knowingly unambitious, Sushil Dade's second album proper as Future Pilot AKA opens with a benediction from Philip Glass, proceeds with an Indian folk song featuring Mikey "Bankrobber" Dread and ends up as a spiritual act of defiance in the face of ongoing global doom. Like 2001's wonderful Tin...
Never knowingly unambitious, Sushil Dade’s second album proper as Future Pilot AKA opens with a benediction from Philip Glass, proceeds with an Indian folk song featuring Mikey “Bankrobber” Dread and ends up as a spiritual act of defiance in the face of ongoing global doom. Like 2001’s wonderful Tiny Waves, Mighty Sea, Dade soars far beyond his indie roots (bassist in The Soup Dragons, no less) to draw on jazz, funk, dub and avant-pop, and unite diverse strains of religious music. But this time, his imperturbable faith in human goodness and potential is given a polemic focus, most explicitly on “Love Of The Land”, where Vic Godard croons for peace. By the time “Heaven Celebrated On Earth”, reminiscent of both Yo La Tengo and George Gershwin, rolls to a close, you’re tempted to believe?as Dade evidently does?that most things are possible given faith and tenacity. A truly inspiring album.