Remember those wonderful ‘What If...?’ comics which Marvel used to produce? They would speculate about an alternative world where the X-Men had all died on their first mission, or how events might have changed if the Fantastic Four had been given different powers. When an artist puts together a collection of tracks which were either left off earlier albums, or were produced exclusively for compilations and tribute albums, as Doug Hoekstra has done here, a similar effect is achieved. Preconceptions about the artist are challenged, influences and motivations become more explicit, and possible future paths are revealed. The most striking difference in this parallel universe is that Doug Hoekstra eschews many of the electronic effects which have permeated his recent work, although arrangements of traditional instruments still bravely defy convention. Oh, Zamira is given a delicate eastern flavour and a minimal piano accompanies the half-sung / half-spoken Drops Fell From My Fingertips. Break My Fall is an FM-friendly pop song which wouldn’t be out of place on a Tom Petty album and is followed by the dreamlike title track and it’s lulling ‘You can’t stop the endless flow of time’ refrain. The centrepiece of the album is If The World Was Blind, a beautiful duet with Kat Parsons, The Life We Love is revisited, having previously appeared on the ‘Around The Margins’ album (this time boasting lead vocals from Colleen Burke Kave) and there’s a delicious dip into the Brecht / Weill songbook with Ballad Of The Soldiers Wife. So although he has not stepped out of the pages of a Marvel Comic, Doug Hoekstra is still a man with extraordinary powers. ‘Nuff said!