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David Helpling & Scott Reich — Through the Thought Horizon
(Spotted Peccary no#, 2026, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2026-05-31

Through the Thought Horizon Cover art

David Helpling has been a mainstay of the Spotted Peccary sound for several decades now — the California based multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger has appeared on over a dozen releases on the label since Between Green and Blue in 1996. Scott Reich, also based in southern California, is also a composer and multi-instrumentalist, here focusing on piano, keyboards, and synthesizers. The nine tracks herein embrace a gentle, pastoral feel, often soft and dreamy, highlighted by powerful melodies and subtle rhythmic exchanges amid sophisticated harmonic movement, an overall sound that might easily lend itself to ambient soundtrack work, completely instrumental. Through this music, a listener can easily imagine purposefully unlimited imagery of natural splendor and exotic landscapes that evoke a stunning level of awe and beauty, though the feelings generated tend to be more emotionally based and not so much in the space realm of much electronic music; there is a definite connection between Helpling and Reich’s music and the natural soundworld that exists around us in the earthly realm. The opening piece “The Simplest of Miracles” seems to embrace that; it’s a piece that states its intent and then slowly builds out using piano, analog and digital synthesizers, and deep bass pulses, shadowed by effected guitars; the melodies ar e somewhat understated, drifting in and out of the listeners periphery, at times clinging to long periods of near silence over its eight minute duration. Sporting stronger melodic tones, all within the intensely vaporous feel of “Dream of the Last Morning,” a listener can hear ornate piano clusters, both effected and stark, in their solitary beauty and magnificence. “The Primordial Tower” eases in slowly, again driven by piano with slight synth backing, until the drama begins unfolding, while “Fallen Skies, Remember Me” finds its bass groove at the beginning of the piece, wasting no time. The title track closes the set, again sporting a lush sound but gently restrained, seemingly at peace with all of the rest of what’s here.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): David Helpling

More info
http://davidhelpling.bandcamp.com/album/through-the-thought-horizon

 

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