Although Dave Brock remains the sole prevailing founder member of Hawkwind, the ensemble he has gathered around him, including former Coil avant synth wizard Thighpaulsandra, has ensured that they remain fit for many tours around the sun yet to come. There Is No Space For Us is about maintaining their vision, although its dystopian elements take on an unfortunate pertinence in the light of Trumpism, Elon Musk and the catastrophes they might portend.
There Is Still Danger There ignites perfectly, with its sequencer scamper, synths rising to a portentous crescendo, reaching full guitar throttle. Space Continues (Lifeform) and its synthscaping reminds us of Tangerine Dream in its sense of humankind in relation to the cosmos, awe-inspiring and indifferent to our planetary species. It’s a reminder that Hawkwind were probably the only early/mid-70s group with a similar vision, drive and scope to the Krautrock generation.
The Co-Pilot makes a sudden, unexpected shift to the acoustic - a gentle, glistening stream of keyboards, before fireflies arise, a reminder of Hawkwind’s bucolic hankerings amid the kosmische frenzy.
The title track is another acoustic foray, initially - the potential meanings of the title are tantalising. Are we being somehow crowded out, or is the mental option of ‘space’ no longer available to us? Whatever, the guitars tilt upward for lift off amid ominously morose lyrical talk of the ‘epitaph for man’. But then comes the defiant cry of ‘All will start again - and we will live!’ as the synths put on a drone display of celebration.
The Outer Region Of The Universe is a Hubble telescope depiction, all billowing colours and bone-juddering guitars, while Neutron Stars conveys a vivid sense of alighting on the docking buoy of a vast, distant metallic orb, its spinning conveyed by a hectic, motorik riff. Finally, A Long Long Way From Home strikes a prolonged note of reconciliation and harmony, not the billowing, blazing blowout you might expect from a Hawkwind finale - a long, long way from home and happy to be as much.
This is, I guess, more Hawkwind, but that’s fine in an era in which rock has transcended time, history and notions of ‘relevance’ – when everything is happening everywhere from everywhen all at once. Hawkwind sit in 2025 alongside the kosmische likes of Berlin’s Arcane Allies, making similar forays into space. It’s all good – and this is certainly good.
