EMANATIONS

Beware: Once you enter to Kösmonaut's realm, you will not escape!

This is the second album I listened and review of Kösmonaut, the brainchild of US composer Patrick. R Park, who creates great electronic-oriented stuff in the vein of dinosaurs such as Tangerine Dream. This album entitled "Emanations" shows his compositional skills with five complex and challenging compositions which range from six to eleven minutes, making a total time of 46 minutes.

It opens with "The One", a nine-minute piece which starts with a strong and loud electronic sound. The repetitiveness is inherent here but also necessary, what makes this kind of music so enjoyable are the diversity of elements that are being included little by little, throughout the whole track. A mandatory suggestion that I have to do, is that you better listen to it with headphones, in order to truly appreciate what the artist is offering. I really love the inclusion of drums (I am not sure if they are electronic or not, though, but it does not really matter), and how they perfectly complete the pile of synthesizers that are surrounding us. Not a boring track at all, on the other hand, this is a fantastic trip to electronic prog.

"Monad" is the shortest track of the album. It starts slower and softer than the previous one, but after some seconds when drums appear it becomes more intense and provocative. The beauty of this musician is how he manages to create a main structure and put a lot of passages and sounds inside it, also, it is wonderful to hear the progression and evolution of the track, and how you little by little are being hypnotized. Though I previously mentioned Tangerine Dream, do not expect a clone, not at all, here you will have an artist with his own style, and with a clear XXI century reference.

"The Indefinite Dyad" is one of the two 11-minute track of the album. The space and sci-fi references are obvious, here, the sound is much softer and slower than the previous tracks, and the atmosphere makes me totally feel like floating in the Milky Way; but after two minutes the song changes and puts synths with a faster rhythm, while the first one works now as simple background. After four minutes and a half there is a stop, the wind can be heard and a kind of uncertainty reigns now; and later little by little the song progresses and adds diverse elements that bring several sensations. What a good trip!

"Triad" is another addictive track with a repetitive rhythm but with a wonderful salad of sounds. It is impossible not to move your head while you are listening to it, which does not mean it is music to dance, don't misunderstand me, but the rhythm invites you to explore its world, its planet and taste its elements. I really love how the intensity increases, there is a moment when you may be about to explode due to the higher and chaotic sound, however the song slows down and keepds developing new and new elements.

The final track is "Primordial Gnosis", the second 11-minute composition. Here the beginning is a bit jammed, I don't know if that is the best adjective, but there are several sounds that I cannot separate one by one, they are like piled up. After two minutes the track is taking a face, creating its body and becoming into something, maybe a being, not sure if human. You want to get hypnotized once again? So then put your headphones, close your eyes and lie on your bed, because you will enter into a transitory process in which you will morph into another form, you decide which.

I loved this album, I am not sure if I can call it a progressive rock masterpiece, but out of the three Kösmonaut's works I've listened to so far, this one has really put me in its world, and made me enjoy every single second of it. That is why I will grade it with four strong stars, and recommend it to any progressive rock fan.

Enjoy it!