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Craig Padilla / Zero Ohms — To Sleep on Stellar Winds
(Spotted Peccary no#, 2024, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2024-09-28

To Sleep on Stellar Winds Cover art

It’s been a dozen years since the last collaboration between Padilla and Richard Roberts a.k.a. Zero Ohms (2012’s When the Earth Is Far Away, on the Lotuspike label), but this one was certainly well worth the wait. Since time immemorial, early humans have been mystified by the vastness of space, the stars and planets, and our position within it all, and even though through exploration in modern times, some of the secrets have started to reveal themselves, there is still so much more there to be explored — even from a distance — that it seems only the imagination can conquer its vastness. And so the duo attempts to tackle what is observable and what isn’t, Padilla with his custom made modular synthesizer and an array of other synths, and Zero Ohms with his flutes, synths, and Yamaha wind controller (and long time Padilla collaborator Skip Murphy contributes additional synths to one of the album’s five tracks). With the exception of the beautiful floating ambient piece “A New Space Revealing,” most of the cuts here make at least some use of sequenced patterns — some faster and busy, some slowed to a near glacial pace, and often in combination for a mysterious and beautiful effect. The slowly evolving closing title track is a powerful 22-minute journey that seems to cover it all, floating in slowly like the solar wind highlighted by scintillating starlight until a muscular sequence arrives and carries the listener forward into a world of mystical and colorful imagery, then through more portals with lighter sequences and eventually floating away to from wherever it came; that closing track alone is worthy of the price of admission. Opener “Past All We Knew” gently guides the listener into the second cut “Initiation, This Ship of Exploration” which opens with a moderately paced modular sequence that quickly begins evolving and growing into something new and even more compelling, reminiscent of the classic Berlin School sound. With “The Momentum of Intention” the duo opens the door into a dense world where sparkles of color highlight a wandering sequenced bass line. In all, the variations, mystery, and beauty that To Sleep on Solar Winds encompasses is nothing short of stunning.

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Craig Padilla, Zero Ohms

More info
http://padilla-ohms.bandcamp.com/album/to-sleep-on-stellar-winds

 

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