The opening title track immediately draws the attention of any space-rock enthusiast with some of the genre’s most familiar pleasures: two guitars playing harmonically complementary arpeggiated chords, spread across the stereo field, their clean, gentle tones soaked in generous amounts of reverbs, delays and shimmer. Beneath them runs a melodic bass line, played deep in the lower register and seemingly enhanced with an octaver, at times taking on the character of an analogue bass synthesizer. The drums are recorded with a room-like ambience and largely stick to simple, unobtrusive rhythms, with plenty of bright-sounding cymbal work. The background is filled with abstract ambient textures, sometimes it comes from guitars allowed to trail away into enormous reverberant and delay spaces; elsewhere, soft synthetic pads resemble a distant, gentle wash of white noise.

 

“Clouds” goes a step further, introducing sounds that recall the far-off rumble of a rocket lifting into the sky. As the musical narrative develops, particularly in the more intense passages, clean guitar tones give way to more heavily driven riffs. The arrangement becomes denser and more energetic. It is here that the decision to push such a deep bass presence in the mix becomes something of a gamble. As the musical textures grow thicker, a certain degree of sonic congestion begins to emerge. Bass is, after all, an instrument capable of carrying an enormous amount of energy. That can be a very good thing – until there is simply too much of it. At that point, the low end begins to mask the other instruments, and instead of blowing your mind and moving your liver, the music can start to feel more boomy and muddy.