THIS IS A JOURNEY INTO SOUND

Over the years i've bought quite a few albums without knowing anything about the artist or the music contained within, or knowing very little. Sometimes this has led to some amazing discoveries and widened my musical tastes, turning me on to genres and artists i might have otherwise missed: other times i've felt soundly robbed! But those occasions when a brief snatch of a song, a review, or even just the artwork has persuaded me to part with my hard earned cash and rewarded me tenfold are the ones where i thank my impulsiveness. One of those albums was Casanova by The Divine Comedy aka one Neil Hannon from Derry in Northern Ireland. He'd already released two albums of what is often called Chamber Pop - contemporary songs with ornate, orchestral instrumentation - to critical acclaim but little success, but Casanova, released in 1996, started to turn things around. Inspired by the life of the Venetian "gambler, eroticist and spy" it didn't initially se

As 2005 began i stopped buying singles on CD altogether, opting for the download. And this presented me with a cheaper opportunity to widen my tastes and discover more new music. And as the post-punk revival of the last couple of years had started to slow down and broaden out, there was  potential for music with a wider scope. iTunes and the internet in general was ripe with new bands. There were still blokes with guitars playing nervy, angular, but danceable music - Editors, Maximo Park and the Specials/Clash indebted The Dead 60's were three newcomers - but bands with a bit more ambition and emotional scope made their mark, and the most well known of these was Montreals' Arcade Fire. Their debut album Funeral was widely acclaimed, and was a slow burner sales-wise having actually been released in September 2004. The band are now huge worldwide, but at the time they were mainly the critics favourites. I had downloaded a couple of their singles - "Neighbourhood #2 (Laika