Nothing Lasts But Nothing Is Lost was the 3rd incredible installation of the Shpongle epic released in 2005 on Twisted Records. Now remastered for 2022.
It proved to be yet another masterclass in the psychedelic fusion of the worlds between musical genre and sonic geometry. Simon Posford & Raja Ram interweave an impossible myriad of melodies on guitars, vocals, oud and horns with hifidelic sounds of masterfully manipulated glitchy synths and Raja’s inimitable Flute and otherworldly vocal mutations to create these majestic musical soundtracks.
The album famously features 20 tracks (which on vinyl appear as 8 separate tracks) designed so that every one flows seamlessly into another, continuously evolving like a musical hologram. Each new sonic world reflecting a psychedelic spectrum of the uniquely altered states of audio reality that Shpongle are renowned for. With every track opening doors to new musical vistas, we are blessed to witness the ever changing sonic scenery that constantly shapeshifts in tone, timbre, tempo and time signature.
Opening with kaleidoscopic mandalas of a mythical music box that morphs into psychedelic funk on “Botanical Dimensions”, we know when Raj’s twisted vocal breaks that we are deeply in “Outer Shpongolia”. The diversity of musical sound surfing is unparalleled, touching on both established and newly invented genres such as latin glitch funk, arabic trance, psyfidelic dub, psychedelic samba massive with massive brass band riffs in “The Stamen of The Shamen” and even snake charmer techno- breaks on “Turn Up the Silence”. Nothing Lasts But Nothing Is Lost effortlessly and seamlessly emerges from one to the next and is a musical journey of such gargantuan portions that they barely fit into a 1 hour epic audio adventure!
On the third fantastical instalment of the Shpongle story, Raja & Simon tickle the synapses and kicking up the dust as evolutionary psychedelic textures and other worldly spaces meld with an irrepressible 4 to the floor of the Kickdrum liberally sprinkled throughout the album.
The mystical maestros undeniably delivered another astounding audio adventure, flipping the sonic switch for tripping without a hitch and earning its rightful place of any psychedelic connoisseur.
| A1 | Botanical Dimensions |
| A2 | Outer Shpongolia |
| A3 | Levitation Nation |
| A4 | Periscopes Of Consciousness |
| A5 | Schmaltz Herring |
| B1 | Nothing Lasts... |
| B2 | Shnitzled In The Negev |
| B3 | ...But Nothing Is Lost |
| C1 | When Shall I Be Free? |
| C2 | The Stamen Of The Shamen |
| C3 | Circuits Of The Imagination |
| C4 | Linguistic Mystic |
| C5 | Mentalism |
| D1 | Invocation |
| D2 | Molecular Superstructure |
| D3 | Turn Up The Silence |
| D4 | Exhalation |
| D5 | Connoisseur Of Hallucinations |
| D6 | The Nebbish Route |
| D7 | Falling Awake |
