Trip Reset

TRIP RESET--a clever pun denoting a new approach, away from the dance-oriented acid house of their previous few records--is one of Psychic TV's most satisfying albums. Floating on a wave of sunny psychedelia--"A Star Too Far" is a tender eulogy to Syd Barrett, and the Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is admirably reworked--Genesis P. Orridge and Alex Ferguson's usual dark preoccupations still maintain an uneasy presence, typically on the chilling "Mother Jack (A Children's Story)," in which a blank-voiced girl recites a story about her murderous mother. Listening to that, even the opening "The La La Song" can't help but sound foreboding in retrospect. Elsewhere, the light-hued pop and the ethereal ambience blend into a remarkable new whole, best seen in "Suspicious (West Coast Pop Art Experimental Remix)," a chiaroscuro soundscape that's alternately exhilarating and disturbing. An excellent return to form.