PROCESSION OF THE SUN

My knowledge of the progressive electronic genre is pretty much limited to Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, and a little bit of Tangerine Dream, so I really wasn't sure what to expect from this. I'm sure there are those out there with a far greater knowledge and appreciation of the genre who could review this far more effectively than myself; however, even for the uninitiated this is an interesting listen and so I'll give it a go.

On the whole I would say that Kösmonaut is rather hard to classify. I will confess that when I saw the rather space-oriented titles of many of the songs I was expecting something resembling ambient music; that's not what this is. Nor does it fall into the wildly experimental, avant-garde category of early Tangerine Dream. And finally, it certainly is not the techno-pop of latter day Kraftwerk. It does, however, combine some elements from all of these (that I hear at least) and so it ends up being a very compelling, if at times a bit disjointed, listen.

"Psychic Mystic Vistas" begins with a sort of distorted synth drone that eventually develops into a slow, spacey progression that fits very well with the sort of cosmic theme that the album sets up. After about two minutes a more rhythmic electronic beat comes in, with the same sort of static-laden, distorted synth playing over it. Eventually, however, this fades out, to be replaced by an uptempo, energetic piano part over which a variety of synths play, sweeping and swirling like cosmic bodies flying past the window of a spacecraft. This last section is definitely my favorite part of the track, with an energy that I feel was a bit lacking in the first bit.

"Swallowing Sun Disk From The Kosmos" follows this up on a somewhat mysterious note, with synth drones that seem to me to recall endless expanses of emptiness. The sound eventually transitions, however, from one of mystery and unknown to one of almost danger, with the piece taking on a rather ominous air before switching suddenly (almost jarringly) into a more rhythmic type of electronic music that's closer to modern techno then to the pseudo-ambient soundscapes of Klaus Schulze. This in turn gives way to another motif, a low-pitched, moaning drone juxtaposed with a high pitched, shimmering texture. This continues for quite a while before another more rhythmic section closes out the track, with the actual ending of the piece coming quite suddenly.

"The Nectar of Thousand-Year Dwarf Stars" starts on a more Klaus Schulze-y note, with some very pleasant ambient textures and some interesting pitch-bending sounds as well. After about 3 and a half minutes the ambient feel begins to disappear as some Kraftwerk- esque sequencing begins to take over the track. This disappears very suddenly and the cosmic, swirling, spacey synths return, going on for a bit before another loop kicks in that's a bit reminiscent of old 8-bit tones. A wobbling synth tone eventually joins in on top of this, creating an interesting juxtaposition of sounds before the track begins to strip down, concluding with a minute long outtro of rumbling and shimmering synth textures.

The next track takes a bit more of an experimental route, with "Amplification of Luminous Being" beginning with some very high pitched ringing juxtaposed with more of those rhythmic, Kraftwerk-esque electronic beats. This is interspersed, however, with other loops that don't really mesh harmonically, and as such the track comes off feeling much more avant-garde than ambient. Midway through the track, however, the conflicted and noisy arrangement falls away, leaving only some low sweeping sounds and a single, pulsating monotone. Eventually this is replaced by more rhythmic sequencing and that same high, shimmering tone that's appeared all over this album. The track concludes with a final rhythmic section that I think could almost be danceable, though the dancers would have to have a decidedly avant-garde mindset.

"Unitive Knowledge of the Divine Ground" begins much more minimally, with some low sweeps the only sound in the track before some rather disjointed percussion and rhythmic sequencing enters. Most of the track continues in this vein, coming off like a strange combination of Kraftwerk's latter day pop efforts and their Krautrock beginnings. "Unitive Knowledge?" finishes with a single, high-pitched tone that fades away to silence.

"Daughters of the Sun" is the final track on the album, as well as the shortest. Some faintly melodic, distorted synth begins the piece before the track moves into an ambient, cinematic mode. While it's much simpler than some of the electronic chaos that made up many of the earlier tracks, "Daughters of the Sun" provides a very satisfying air of finality to the album and is a nice final chance to catch your breath as the album ends.

This music isn't for everyone. To be honest, I'm not even sure if it's for me. This is drastically different than the kind of stuff I usually listen to, and even after multiple listens I'm still not totally sure of how I feel about it. There is no doubt, though, that this music is well arranged and composed, and it's certainly grown on me since the first listen. I would suspect that those with a greater affinity than myself for pure electronic music will find this very enjoyable, and even those without much knowledge of the genre (myself included!) should find it very interesting.

3/5