--- product_id: 3767959 title: "AUTOMATIC" price: "£0.85" currency: GBP in_stock: false reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/3767959-automatic store_origin: GB region: United Kingdom --- # AUTOMATIC **Price:** £0.85 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** AUTOMATIC - **How much does it cost?** £0.85 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.uk](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/3767959-automatic) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Review: Vision Of a Future Past - From the liner notes: "This album was inspired by and is dedicated to the many, often nameless visionaries, idealists, and designers of the early 20th Century, who saw and gave shape to a future, where design combined beauty, aesthetic and utility, a future that included everyone, but was sadly, a future that was never to be." I don't know how I can review this album without comparing it to 2002's Futureperfect. Both albums are a bit more melodic than usual for VNV; both feature a hauntingly beautiful, neoclassical track (Liebestod, Goodbye 20th Century); and both feature songs that try to evoke visions of futuristic cities (Airships, Streamline). So it would be very easy to accuse Automatic of being nothing more than "Futureperfect Revisited." But that comparison is too simplistic. Futureperfect treats the future as the present: it's about (as I interpret it) already being IN a future that didn't quite turn out as advertised. And so a lot of songs on Futureperfect tend to be about what's wrong with the future, AS PRESENT. "No tears, no sympathy"; "Somehow I'm always falling over me"; "By our blindness and stupidity, we kill everything"; "Did we toil in vain in hope that wisdom came from what we've done"; "Tell me what ritual I should have today"; "Circumstances afford me no second chance to tell you how much I've missed you"; "Now I'm leaving home, leaving everything that I have ever known." Even some of the more anthemic tracks on Futureperfect (Genesis, Airships, Fearless) seem to have a note of hopelessness about them. And yet, Futureperfect somehow ends up being the happier album. And you wouldn't guess that by strictly scanning the lyrics, or even hearing one of the more anthemic tracks all by itself. For instance, take Streamline. It manages something rare: being a bright, up-tempo, hands in the air dance anthem that can reduce you to tears of regret. It's not that there's anything inherently sad about, say, "Streamlined simplicity, the renaissance of humanity, avenues of light to guide us home." But when you listen to the song with the concept in mind--that this could have been the future, OUR PRESENT, but yet it never came to pass--then the optimistic lyrics, and even the bright, up-tempo music, suddenly become a heartbreaking catalog of the happiness that now, we'll never experience. It takes considerable artistry to make a song both uplifting and depressing at the same time, but VNV absolutely nails it with that one track. I don't want to leave the impression that this album is a total downer: tracks like Resolution and Gratitude do keep the overall tenor of the album one that's more happy than not. But there are a couple of tracks where you might want to have some Kleenex handy the first time you listen to them. And then, there's Nova, which is worth the price of admission all by itself. VNV has not been shy about touching on spiritual and religious themes (Genesis, Nemesis, As It Fades, Where There Is Light), but Nova may be the most overtly spiritual song they've ever done. It is nothing short of transcendent, and it is very quickly becoming one of my favorite songs of all time. VNV came up with a terrific concept, and they keep it going all the way through the album. The sheer amount--quality and quantity--of artistry on display here is something that's hard to find nowadays. I simply cannot recommend this album highly enough. I can't say it's life-changing or anything like that--that's up to the individual listener--but I can say that this album spoke to me in ways few albums in recent memory have. This album, simply put, is a treasure. Buy it, and make sure you give yourself an undisturbed hour to listen to it all the way through. This one's special. Review: Recomended for every living soul in this planet. - If the world suddenly became perfect (whatever your vision of that is) and all of your favorite heroes took charge and sent every villian to a penal colony on mars, this album is what they'd be playing at the party that night. Grandeur, Titanic Glory, It should be titled- Exhaltation. So much of VNV in the past was in my opinion, stitching up the wounds of our souls to keep us going. Fighting thru the darkness alone, towards a distant dim light. Looking back at my favorite VNV tracks of the past, I realize now that they have been all a kind of prayers that I uttered alone in silence to strengthen me in the the darkest times of my life to find the strength I needed to survive, to find solace. I felt, like so many of us that VNV captured the Zeitgeist of our dark age of this last lost decade (or two or three.) Read the comments on youtube for your favorite track. The music of VNV has been medicine, plain and simple. But then I remember that the only constant in the universe is change. And all I need to do is look around to see the changes all around us the days (Worldwide political revolutions, OWS, end of Iraq and Afganistan). We are approaching its shores. Accordingly, it is this new Zeitgeist that Automatic heralds here. their music captures that. Look around us. The glory, the power, the perfect machine of cadence and sound and for the first time...dare I say it? The Sacred Hope, of promise fulfilled, that permeates the album it left me in tears on my first listen struggling to keep my car on the road. (Do not drive on the first listen, I'm warning you. I was choking crying and laughing all with my mouth open in amazement.(email me the name of another album that does that). I hear an indescribable wonder, a gorgeousness, an exaltation to be alive and awake. It's as if we fought and traveled like Odysseus for a life time and finally landed on the shores of home. VNV drives our flag into the sand and claims it ours. I never write reviews. But after I read a review written here by a very intelligent person here trashing it I couldn't be silent. (darklord zen from Australia drew my attention by his 1 star rating). Let go of your pain brother. Im truly sorry for your suffering. Open your heart. Come out of the darkness. A new world awaits you, its all good. A new world is dawning. Their album is a celebration of it. The songs here are prayers. Sung at the top of Ronans lungs. Let us all sing with him brothers. For the world is yours. "O Wonder, O brave new world, that doth have such people in it.!"- Shakespeare ----- Add to cart right now. And cough up a few dollars for overnight shipping. ## Images ![AUTOMATIC - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41TK071Gh+L.jpg) ![AUTOMATIC - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/717UJhvIDSL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Vision Of a Future Past *by C***N on October 13, 2011* From the liner notes: "This album was inspired by and is dedicated to the many, often nameless visionaries, idealists, and designers of the early 20th Century, who saw and gave shape to a future, where design combined beauty, aesthetic and utility, a future that included everyone, but was sadly, a future that was never to be." I don't know how I can review this album without comparing it to 2002's Futureperfect. Both albums are a bit more melodic than usual for VNV; both feature a hauntingly beautiful, neoclassical track (Liebestod, Goodbye 20th Century); and both feature songs that try to evoke visions of futuristic cities (Airships, Streamline). So it would be very easy to accuse Automatic of being nothing more than "Futureperfect Revisited." But that comparison is too simplistic. Futureperfect treats the future as the present: it's about (as I interpret it) already being IN a future that didn't quite turn out as advertised. And so a lot of songs on Futureperfect tend to be about what's wrong with the future, AS PRESENT. "No tears, no sympathy"; "Somehow I'm always falling over me"; "By our blindness and stupidity, we kill everything"; "Did we toil in vain in hope that wisdom came from what we've done"; "Tell me what ritual I should have today"; "Circumstances afford me no second chance to tell you how much I've missed you"; "Now I'm leaving home, leaving everything that I have ever known." Even some of the more anthemic tracks on Futureperfect (Genesis, Airships, Fearless) seem to have a note of hopelessness about them. And yet, Futureperfect somehow ends up being the happier album. And you wouldn't guess that by strictly scanning the lyrics, or even hearing one of the more anthemic tracks all by itself. For instance, take Streamline. It manages something rare: being a bright, up-tempo, hands in the air dance anthem that can reduce you to tears of regret. It's not that there's anything inherently sad about, say, "Streamlined simplicity, the renaissance of humanity, avenues of light to guide us home." But when you listen to the song with the concept in mind--that this could have been the future, OUR PRESENT, but yet it never came to pass--then the optimistic lyrics, and even the bright, up-tempo music, suddenly become a heartbreaking catalog of the happiness that now, we'll never experience. It takes considerable artistry to make a song both uplifting and depressing at the same time, but VNV absolutely nails it with that one track. I don't want to leave the impression that this album is a total downer: tracks like Resolution and Gratitude do keep the overall tenor of the album one that's more happy than not. But there are a couple of tracks where you might want to have some Kleenex handy the first time you listen to them. And then, there's Nova, which is worth the price of admission all by itself. VNV has not been shy about touching on spiritual and religious themes (Genesis, Nemesis, As It Fades, Where There Is Light), but Nova may be the most overtly spiritual song they've ever done. It is nothing short of transcendent, and it is very quickly becoming one of my favorite songs of all time. VNV came up with a terrific concept, and they keep it going all the way through the album. The sheer amount--quality and quantity--of artistry on display here is something that's hard to find nowadays. I simply cannot recommend this album highly enough. I can't say it's life-changing or anything like that--that's up to the individual listener--but I can say that this album spoke to me in ways few albums in recent memory have. This album, simply put, is a treasure. Buy it, and make sure you give yourself an undisturbed hour to listen to it all the way through. This one's special. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Recomended for every living soul in this planet. *by A***R on November 6, 2011* If the world suddenly became perfect (whatever your vision of that is) and all of your favorite heroes took charge and sent every villian to a penal colony on mars, this album is what they'd be playing at the party that night. Grandeur, Titanic Glory, It should be titled- Exhaltation. So much of VNV in the past was in my opinion, stitching up the wounds of our souls to keep us going. Fighting thru the darkness alone, towards a distant dim light. Looking back at my favorite VNV tracks of the past, I realize now that they have been all a kind of prayers that I uttered alone in silence to strengthen me in the the darkest times of my life to find the strength I needed to survive, to find solace. I felt, like so many of us that VNV captured the Zeitgeist of our dark age of this last lost decade (or two or three.) Read the comments on youtube for your favorite track. The music of VNV has been medicine, plain and simple. But then I remember that the only constant in the universe is change. And all I need to do is look around to see the changes all around us the days (Worldwide political revolutions, OWS, end of Iraq and Afganistan). We are approaching its shores. Accordingly, it is this new Zeitgeist that Automatic heralds here. their music captures that. Look around us. The glory, the power, the perfect machine of cadence and sound and for the first time...dare I say it? The Sacred Hope, of promise fulfilled, that permeates the album it left me in tears on my first listen struggling to keep my car on the road. (Do not drive on the first listen, I'm warning you. I was choking crying and laughing all with my mouth open in amazement.(email me the name of another album that does that). I hear an indescribable wonder, a gorgeousness, an exaltation to be alive and awake. It's as if we fought and traveled like Odysseus for a life time and finally landed on the shores of home. VNV drives our flag into the sand and claims it ours. I never write reviews. But after I read a review written here by a very intelligent person here trashing it I couldn't be silent. (darklord zen from Australia drew my attention by his 1 star rating). Let go of your pain brother. Im truly sorry for your suffering. Open your heart. Come out of the darkness. A new world awaits you, its all good. A new world is dawning. Their album is a celebration of it. The songs here are prayers. Sung at the top of Ronans lungs. Let us all sing with him brothers. For the world is yours. "O Wonder, O brave new world, that doth have such people in it.!"- Shakespeare ----- Add to cart right now. And cough up a few dollars for overnight shipping. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ hell to the yes! *by S***R on March 30, 2013* it took me a while to pony up for this download since I was sort of lukewarm about the past few VNV releases. they've been spinning "space & time" for a few months at my local industrial club, and it's fun and all - but still - i didn't trust that the entire album would be worth it. well i just listened to the whole thing in it's entirety (with headphones) and i can defintiely say it is worth every penny. yup, i pretty much lost my sh*t several times. up until now, my favorite VNV tracks - the ones that stand the test of time - are Airships and Still Waters. most of the tracks on this album have a similar feel to these. VNV combines totally uplifting, universal lyrics with futuristic arpeggios and epic synth layers that make us fly so high, and even entertain the possibility that maybe - just maybe - we're not as alone as it seems. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/3767959-automatic](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/3767959-automatic) --- *Product available on Desertcart United Kingdom* *Store origin: GB* *Last updated: 2026-06-26*