CELESTIAL GEOMETRIES (COLLABORATION WITH TAU CETI)

Synthesizer masters Oöphoi (Gianluigi Gasparetti) and Tau Ceti (Enrico Cosimi) have created here a truly remarkable collection of interspace or interspatial soundscapes. Celestial Geometries is an album cast entirely of songs composed of atmospheric space sounds. The music here reminds me much of the noises used to fill interstellar space scenes in films like the Ridley Scott Alien series in which the director/composer is trying to capture the stark feelings of emptiness that the void of soundless space might present. There is also an influence expressed from musical traditions of the 1980s like BRIAN ENO's On Land and Apollo albums, only the songs here are more drawn out (the way we all probably wanted Eno's songs back in the 80s to be). Verily, each song represents an eery adventure that challenges the listener to stay centered in oneself and grounded in the realities that are known to us. With the accompaniment of this music, the isolated, solitary listener can test the boundaries of his or her consciousness and let the imagination run wild. Not for the faint of heart but brilliant for those experienced with meditation, trance, and hypnosis.

Five star songs: the beautiful 2. "Cydonia Plains" (7:01) (10/10); the spacious 1. "Arsia Echoes" (9:28) (9/10); the unsettling 3. "Valles Marineris" (11:04) (9/10); the peaceful, 4. "Chryse Planitia" (7:28) (9/10), and; the scary, hyperdriven first third of, and calmer, "you have reached your destination" final half of 5. "Isidis" (13:03) (9/10).

Four star songs: the eerie, "who's out there!" of 6. "Candor Chasm" (6:44) (8/10), and; the heavy, vocalise-driven, almost-monastic-feeling and ultimately peaceful 7. "Tholus" (12:46) (8/10).

4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of Ambient/Progressive Electronic music.