“On this record album, I think you will find that listening is going to change and greatly enrich the way you look at your world. At its highest levels, the record is an adventure in mind expansion. Welcome now.”

Strong words from producer & artist, Aim, but something like that is easier said than done. Now that Aim has his own label, maybe those words spoken on the opening track, ‘Intro #3’, are true after all.

What makes this album so unique is the ideas that Aim uses over and over again. Constantly deliberately repeating a riff by copy and paste instead of recording it again, although it may sound like a stupid idea, it works very well and gives him his own style. Aim also uses sound effects constantly throughout the album, everything from the strange elephant sound on ‘Northwest’ to the sinister clicking noises in ‘Aberdeen.’ In some cases, Aim style works beautifully, in others, it fails miserably. The song ‘Interview’ has a beautiful noisy wind that is incredibly haunting but effective. However, the song has an unnecessary high pitched trickling noise later on.

No two tracks on Flight 602 are the same. All have there own individual feel, this doesn’t mean to say that all the tracks are good tracks. ‘Smile’ is a terrible song that screams FILLER and makes me want to do the exact opposite of the title. It feels as though it’s been made up on the spot without any tune at all. But where the album fails in some parts, it passes in others with flying colours. ‘Walking Home through the Park’ is beautifully layered with a huge array of instruments. Also, the guitar and bass at the start of ‘Pier 57’ has been heard a million times before on a million different songs, Aim makes it sound so fresh and original. The downside to the song is when Aim completely changes the song’s feel and ruins a great tune. ‘Birchwood’ is full of character and gives a feel of some far off land as it is so unusual, yet nice to listen to.

As the album ends there is an unexpected surprise. Just when we thought we had sussed out Aim’s music, he finishes with ‘It’s later than you think’ its like nothing else on the album. It’s laid back, typical, easy listening acoustic song. Maybe it’s to show us all that’s anything is possible from this guy, whether it’s good or bad we still are not certain.

Is this album actually worth buying though? Yes, but there is a chance that you could hate it. Then again, you may love it. One bit of good news though is that Flight 602 could be a heavy influence on future bands to come.

James Bingham