The Vision – Spectral Nomad

In 1991, Robert Hood released his first 12-inch, Gyroscopic, a four-track EP on Underground Resistance with vocoder rapping (his own), chants, bird calls, acid spasms and a clip from a punk gig. Using an alias, The Vision, inspired by his status as a “rogue member” of UR, Hood explored many ideas in search of his sound. In the five-year period between that EP and Spectral Nomad, Hood groomed one to near perfection. “”Sleepchamber,”” he once said, “was the track where I knew I had a voice and a sound that was completely all me.” Minimal Nation, in which Hood planted “rhythms inside of rhythms inside of rhythms,” emerged two years later on Axis. Though that album’s minimalism was mirrored on Spectral Nomad, Hood put ripples in the formula.