Phrozenlight Far Side of the Galaxy CDR / 1 Track / 77:00 mins Play Sample:   56K Dialup   Broadband Download Sample:   500K   1.5Mb (Excerpt from track(s) 'Far Side of the Galaxy') Please go to the Store to buy this item.

I wouldn't say I was an expert on Phrozenlight as he has quite a large catalogue but most of what I have heard until now has been ambient music in the more traditional sense. I was amazed therefore that almost from the very beginning of this mammoth seventy-seven minute piece we get sequences. All rather fine they are too, sounding distinctly Schulzian, in a restrained rather rumbling way. In the background little cosmic effects hiss and twitter. Actually there seems to be quite a bit of movement in the sequence as it morphs this way and that. At around the ten minute mark the backing has become 'windier' and overall everything sounds more bass laden. The sequence also seems to be a little higher in the mix. By the fifteenth minute the pulsations seem much more 'tinkling'. Five minutes later the sequence has all but departed as we gradually descend to pure drift with little metallic shimmers then really strange distorted sampled chatter- or it is to me anyway as I think it is in Dutch or German. High register metallic shimmers enter as the chatter slowly subsides and a fresh very bass heavy rhythmic sequence can just be heard forming low in the mix, so low in fact that it as much seeps into the consciousness as is actually heard. At the half hour mark the distorted chatter momentarily returns. A second very subtle sequence makes an entrance but again it is low in the mix compared to the shifting sea of rather complex pads. Both sequences increase in intensity but at such a slow rate I didn't at first realise it. From time to time the backing becomes a little more violent, even stormy, then subsides again. By the hour mark all returns to atmospherics. I suppose it's quite tranquil but there does seem to be a darker edge to it. The pulsations haven't left us completely however as they do return, initially so low in the mix they were more of an imagination but slowly they once again start to form a more prominent part in the overall flow until they are quite positively skipping along. The 'chatter' makes one last appearance at around the seventy-minute mark. To me it seems that the last half-minute is pure silence, or is that my ears just getting too old? I enjoyed this album very much and of those I have heard by Phrozenlight so far it is certainly my favourite. It must be said however that with such a long track where the changes are so subtle it is hard to completely concentrate on it throughout its duration. My mind kept wandering but there is no doubt that it was a supremely relaxing experience. (DL)

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