#jon tye

[alyallow]

Album Art for Jean-Jacques Perrey & Luke Vibert's record MOOG ACID was created and photographed by Dan McPharlin.

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 300: Private Agenda

Throughout 2019, Private Agenda have been crafting imagined landscapes…these dream renderings of paradise islands surrounded by boundless oceans, with sparkling blue waters crashing against white sand shores, coconut trees blowing in a warm seabreeze, and exotic flowers releasing strange perfumes that push the mind towards bliss. Having graced Lo Recordings’ Spaciousness compilation last year, the duo of Sean Phillips and Martin Aggrowe have united again with the label for an ambitious project of sonic fantasy, which started this summer with the Aura EP, a digitally released collection comprising four pitch-perfect pop numbers, a couple of which now rank among my very favorite Private Agenda tracks (which is saying something considerable). The EP sees the duo’s lyrical and production work hitting an apex, with their vocalizations touching on the sensual and the futuristic as gentle layers of sci-fi studio trickery caress every turn of phrase. And musically, we are treated to etheric synth-pop starscapes, krautrock hypno-glides, and neon new wave propulsions that exude an irresistible sense of melancholia...a brief yet masterful pop adventure and a high point for both Aggrowe and Phillips. But beyond this, the EP serves another purpose: as an opening chapter to an immersive story called Île de Rêve, which is a less a traditional album and more so a “series of transcendental reminiscences surrounding the cult of islands.”

Private Agenda are no strangers to balearic ambiance and touches of mystical seaside magic kiss most of their work, most specifically the (almost) beatless ethereality of their Primary Colours EP from 2017. But even given these tendencies towards new age textures and floating atmospherics, I am still blown away by Île de Rêve’s total dedication to surreal environments of cosmic aquatic wonder. The duo’s well-honed pop sensibilities are completely subsumed, with Phillips and Aggrowe instead using synthesizers, pianos, and the barest semblance of voice to transport the listener to the titular island of dreams. At times it feels like we are on land, pushing toes through warm sand as seabirds fly overhead, gazing over the horizon during a summer storm, or exploring the interior of the island…its gemstone caverns, crystalline streams, and flower fields exuding atmospheres of pastoral prog romance. Other times we are swimming in the waters off shore, joining in with the fluid movements of dolphins or exploring the mysteries of coral reef universes. In the album’s liner notes, Private Agenda talk about the peculiar paradox of growing up on an island…”a sense of isolation tempered by a strong sense of place.” And so it goes with the music: the introspective ambient sonics pull the spirit inward and invite reflection while simultaneously carrying the imagination towards a well-defined location…a tropical island in an ocean of dreams.

By August, I had spent several weeks with Aura and Île de Rêve and was preparing to write a piece on both when, much to my surprise, Private Agenda dropped The Space Between Swells, a digitally released remix EP featuring seaside sound masters Max Essa and Mark Barrott. Essa takes on the title track from Aura, and flips what is already a pop masterpiece into a stunning adventure of beachside dance ecstasy, one that proceeds across an extended vocal take and a heady dub disco fever dream. Then there’s Barrott, who elongates and transforms Île de Rêve’s “Sea Life” into a utopic slice of balearic beat…an early morning nature dance anthem built from deep dub atmospheres, underwater bass bubbles, liquid guitar textures, aqueous synthwaves, and angelic vocal repetitions (which is then backed by a dub and a narcotic accapella version that revels in the spirituality of silence). When I first learned Essa and Barrott were the remixers, I was as excited as I was unsurprised, for the two are natural choices to take on the narcotic pop and ambient vibrations of Private Agenda. But as ever with Aggrowe and Phillips, there is a deeper reason behind the choices, one that was recently revealed in an interview over at Vehlinggo, for you see, both Essa and Barrott have lived most of their lives on various islands (UK, Japan, Ibiza), giving them a unique perspective on Private Agenda’s overarching investigation of sacred ocean spaces.

Private Agenda - Aura (Lo Recordings, 2019) “Aura” starts with futuristic boogie rhythms, which set the stage for sweeping synthetic melodies, heavenly doo-wop choirs, and Chic-adelic funk guitars. As we drop into the verse, Phillips sings sensual lyricisms, with his fragile voice occasionally accompanied by soulful backing harmonies. During the chorus, gemstone synthesizers rise towards the sky and the singing erupts into some fantasy amalgam of MJ, Romanthony, and Jónsi as Phillips calls out: “and then when I wake up / I’ll hold you back,” with each “hold you back” refrain trailed by backing vocal ethereality. After a passage of percussive fireworks, with toms and snares splattering across the spectrum and tambourines jangling, we move into an instrumental variant of the chorus, wherein backing vocal cloudforms and tropical synthesis generate a balearic dreamscape before Phillips returns for one more round of vocal pop perfection. Then in “Grapple,” atmospheric swells phase between ocean and starlight while a hypno-rhythm soars through the cosmos. Looped voices pulsated and tubular bass sequences dance while pitch shifting leads descending upon the mix, sounding as if audial streaks of silver are mutating as they echo star-to-star. A clap introduces the verse, with octave basslines grooving and Phillips singing dystopic futurisms concerning nuclear fusion and chemical cocktails raining from the sky. And as the phrase “I tried to resit it / I can’t I can’t go on” trails into wordless ether, we hit an ultra-kosmkische glide, with echoing sequences and neon arpeggiations racing through galactic expanses. Another clap brings back the vocals, only during the second measure, a key change sweeps the soul towards realms of paradise perfection. And then comes a moment that never fails to bring tears…a passage so powerfully transcendent, with angel choir pulsations washing over the soul, layers of interstellar magic bringing LSD dream visions, and kosmische grooves working the body into space age synth-pop hypnosis. 

“Kingfisher” sees dreampop guitars ringing out through pink and purple synth hazes as an airy trip-hop beatscape emerges. The vocals are so narcotizing and mysterious, with Phillips singing “everybody knows your name / blend into the background” in a way evoking the romantic spiritualisms of Air, all while spy movie guitars bring parallel evocations of Chris Isaak, Portishead, and Angelo Badalamenti. Elsewhere, arpeggiations swirl at hyperspeed while a baritone guitar decays through a noir nightscape, with the track’s title being whispered and percussion moving in and out of silence. There’s a brief moment that sees the mix reducing to a sea-foam fog as lonely guitars sit beneath birdsong field recordings, but the ambiance soon cuts away in favor of dramatic percussion passages, which then lead back to the narcotizing guitar pop magic, all liquid slides, desert hazes, ethereal arps, and soloing synth psychotropia intertwining while the stuttering percussion leads a softly anthemic body groove. Aura ends on “Lighthouse” and its themes of synthetic brass fluttering on clouds while seascape guitar chords disperse above kick drums, snares, whispering hi-hats, and growling funk bass riffs. The singing during the verse flits above sparse rhythms while six-string chords evoke shimmering harps and there’s a dirgey sort of chorus, with voices in each ear harmonizing and swooning together through paradise motions, creating atmospheres of soulful wonderment as backing vocals add touches of shadowy drama. Later, we break down into futuristic synth psychedelia, with electronic tracers circling wildly before progressing into alien madness…all while a breathy voices speaks “lighthouse” above chugging bass riffs and a kick drum heart pulse. Blasts of interstellar synthesis arc across the stereo field as the track erupts again into the all-encompassing chorus, with the heart swept higher and higher until an arresting minor key voice transition…an unexpected touch of prog drama leading to mutating voice coda.

Private Agenda - Île de Rêve (Lo Recordings, 2019) In “Bounty,” mermaid choirs hover beneath stabbing synths and swooning chord progressions are carried upon ethereal swells while aquatracers diffuse through the mix…these neon squiggles echoing through infinite oceans. Brass chords quiver before exploding with energy, which brings a touch of funk sensualism to the beauteous flow, and sequences constructed from glass move through dazzling patterns and rainbow colorations. And later, sea sirens sing radiant songs and layers of comforting hiss immerse the body as the spirit drifts towards Private Agenda’s island paradise. White light synthesis swells in from the void in “Sea Life,” bringing with it crystalline melodies that waver like a mirage. Downtempo drum pulsations are constructed from thudding kicks, electro-toms, and interspersed tambourines while funk-colored bass motions support yearning repetitions of “sea life”…the voice hauntingly beautiful and child-like, with etheric wavefronts swelling in support. There are soft transitions into ocean prog majesty, with basslines carrying the soul and synthesizers flowing outwards before reversing into mist. Then, as we return to the melodious vocal incantations, multiple layers flow in round while coral colored key strokes dance on sunbeams. “Wave Motion” follows with orgasmic pads surrounding the body…the vibe warm and womb-like. There are touches of 70s style mellotronic prog breaking through the dense layers of sea-fog while overhead, fragile piano melodies wander freely…the sound close mic’d and intimate, with squeaky hammers hitting dusty strings and bench creaks and soft breaths heard amidst the bucolic keystrokes. The ambient layers reduce to black smoke at some point before slowly filtering back into an oceanic haze and eventually, the pianos mutate through zany delay runs.

The epic length “Ultramarine” revels in dreamworld pads that vibrate with ecstatic energy. White noise percussion skips across an alien sea…these filtering snare rolls buried beneath layers of deep sea growth and sometimes morphing into whip cracks…while sparkling leads dance through an underwater wonderland. At some point, the wispy drum noises and dreamy melodies drop away, leaving atmospheric synths to waver like the reflections of sunlight off water, with evolving oscillations almost overtaking the mix before fading into nothingness. And as the rhythms return, they are joined by squelching synthfunk riffs and sub-sonic bass currents, with everything locking in for a beatless stretch of ambient house euphoria…like Larry Heard soundtracking a coral reef dreamworld. In “Monsoon,” thick polysynth riffs execute a paradise waltz while starshine echoes flow in counterpoint. This is the only other vocal track on the album and the lyrics are spellbinding, with Phillips working through soft variations of the phrase “in darkness / I sit and watch the rain fall” while his voice subtly mutates…as if a kiss of vocoder has been added to further enhance the futuristic dream aura. Psychosonic static textures crawl into the mix before sweeping it all away into a romantic filterscape, wherein crystalline leads ping like sonars, orgasmic synthesizers flow through warm distortions, and psychedelic wah-wah motions flutter above heartbeat kick taps. Once we rush back into the pounding polysynth riffs and echoing arp lines, the synth swells from the midsection remain, adding a strange yet comforting touch of alien orchestral magic. Towards the end, the vocals reprise their swoon-song spiritualisms as the mix begins fading away and eventually, a lone voice is left calling out over polychrome synthwave minimalism.

A golden-toned piano swims through the sky in “Solitude,” its lilting chords intermingling with gentle arpeggiations. Aggrowe’s playing is expressive…sometimes radiating primal power while at other times backing down into a whisper…and here and there, a screaming siren sweeps upwards with the piano for moments of stunning emotional power. Elsewhere, as the ivories settle back into a melancholic meditation, laser fire sequences weave neon patterns through the air and subsonic bass currents underly everything, their sounds evoking a contrabass bowing through layers of darkness. And during breathtaking climaxes, the dam bursts and waves ethereal atmosphere wash over the soul, melting the heart as the spirit ascends towards some star kingdom at the center of a deep sea universe. Next is “Melani,” with oscillations hypnotizing and hovering…as if time is standing still. Melodies sound sourced from a piano, but slowly morph and mutate into synthetic mesmerism…these golden hazes and lush romantic decay trails swelling in strength then dispersing. There are touches of kankyō-ongaku shining through, with my mind going to the work of Yoshimura and Hirose, as well as Hosono’s closed eyed synth journeys...the track seeing Aggrowe and Phillips similarly subsume melody in favor of spacious silence and atmospheric sound design. Cricket chirps diffuse in before fading away as the mix devolves into nothingness…a false ending that leads to a post-rock ceremonial for the sunrise. Later, black clouds of bass ambiance float the soul while ecclesiastical synthesizer leads rain down from the heavens and as the pianos resume their echoing ocean dances, we find ourselves in a world of modernistic new age wonderment...the vibe at once enchanting and deeply hallucinatory.

There’s a touch of Pachelbel’s “Canon” to the blissed out pads of “Dependency,” which are supported by soloing church organs…the two elements creating an instrumental hymn for the sky, though sometimes the synths distort into a garbled mess. The electronic textures are eventually swapped out for piano, with chord patterns falling like rain. Yearning space leads progressively modulate through alien tremolo weirdness and drunken arps careen across the mix, with wild filter formations moving in and out of time. It’s a world of contrast, with pianos growing ever more transcendent as the electronic elements are destroyed by ring modulation and outer-dimensional vibrato. After a climax awash in disorientation, we back down into the Pachelbel drift, with the church organs contorting into insectoid noise, synths filtering into warm wet brass, and flutey electronics transmuting into feedback. Closer “P.S.R.” begins with billowing waves of fuzzform synthesis creating a sunset panorama, with melodies reaching deep into the heart even as they are smothered in static and shadow. Aqueous stands of light escape from the murky atmospherics, their bright curlicues wrapping around the mind while slow filter movements stoke psychedelic hypnosis. Everything is in motion…though slowly, with progressions moving at the speed of universal evolution. Waves crash in against white sand beaches and are rendered in a soft-focus blur…like a paradise beach visited on a cloudy day. Delay-soaked pianos rain down from a grey sky and evoke the minimalist dreamscapes of Jordan de la Sierra, while subdued fusion textures swim in the background. And swells of church organ bass support it all, creating currents of soulful magic as the ivory incantations carry the mind away.

Private Agenda / Max Essa / Mark Barrott - The Space Between Swells (Lo Recordings, 2019) Max Essa’s extended vocal mix of “Aura” sets things to a muscular disco beat awash in conga and bongo tropicalisms, with voices echoing and blissful pads surrounding a romantic synthbass dub groove. Pianos trace out vague remembrances of the original track’s melodic themes, spaceguitars flow through deep sea phaser fx, and a synthetic brass section pulses on etherwaves over ultra-tight wah guitar accents…all until swirling electro-tracers bring in Private Agenda’s cinematic synthesizer themes. Basslines slip and slide through buttery distortions, even evoking fretless fusion sensuality, and there’s a tight shuffle on the hats that is oh-so-irrestible, with everything setting the stage for the vocals, which here swim through layers of tremolo atmospherics. The chorus is similar to the original, with Phillips erupting through soulful intensity while layers of backing vocal radiance cause the heart to swoon and sway. Elsewhere, we rush upwards on pulsating keyboards as the drums break down into a Latin funk stutter, with anthemic anticipation building as voices and synthesizers coalesce into sunset magic. Arps glisten before fading into air and dreamhouse pianos tease ecstatic riffs while Essa’s typically liquid guitar psychedelics flow ear-to-ear. And above it all, Phillips’ sexual hooks are repurposed into soulful dream textures. Essa and Private Agenda also present a dub mix of “Aura,” wherein hand drums sit beneath aquatic echos as the bass is given a boost of dub disco strength. In lieu of vocal leads, the balearic groovescapes are colored by saucer-eyed pads, piano explorations, and oceanic electronics that stretch towards the horizon and at times, coral-hued fusion leads soar through the mix…their dueling harmonies bringing airs of laser prog majesty. Near the end, angel hazes flutter thorough sea-foam and tripped out wah guitars converse with mermaid murmurs while up above, schools of fish reflect rainbow panoramas as they swim across the spectrum.

Mark Barrott’s take on “Sea Life” begins in the natural world, as crickets converse over deep earth oscillations. Hi-hats and hand drums build a groove amidst kosmische synthesis and Phillips’ “Sea Life” refrain is even more gaseous as it loops and echoes over itself. A subtle key change brings airs of hope before the kick drum hits and then, following a brief rhythmic breakdown, the beats rush back in alongside subsonic bubble pulses…these alien bass textures sitting somewhere between synthesis and percussion. The vocal refrain flows in and out of the mix according to Barrott’s mysterious dream logic and laser light oscillations smolder before rocketing towards the celestial sphere, while later, guitars morph through crystalline feedback glows and chiming echo hypnotics…like Floydian space rock intertwining with Roy Montgomery’s experimental ambiance. There’s a brief moment of rest near the middle where insect chirps move through the mix like a mirage while melodic bass sequences bop untethered, but soon the heady hi-hat patterns return us to tropical slow dance ecstasy, with the “sea life” hook wrapping the spirit in cooing sensuality. And eventually, the groove gives way to a beatless coda where organs transmuting into whale song amidst a haze of soundbath spirituality. In addition to the vocal mix, Barrott presents two further takes on “Sea Life,” the first of which strips the vocals away and thus allows the cosmic atmospherics to take over…creating an even more zoned out ritual for starlight nature dancing. And in a total flip, Barrott also includes an accapella mix, which gives full view into his vocal production sorcery. Pre-delays and reverberations cut in and out unexpectedly as Phillips’ hooks ping pong and smear into ether while elsewhere, humming pulses and looping voices morph into birdsong, psychosonic filter movements pull things in and out of focus, and unexpected temporal shifts lead to overlapping resonances and alien dissonances. 

(images from my personal copy and Private Agenda’s Bandcamp)

[thesunlounge]

Seahawks - Eyes of the Moon (from Eyes of the Moon, Cascine 2019)

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 223: Seahawks

Seahawks are perhaps my favorite producers, with the duo of Pete Fowler and Jon Tye making frequent and far-out excursions into the musical worlds I love most: phaser-blasted new age, sea-foam space music, ambient dream fusion, coastal jazz exotica, mystical dolphin drone, meditative saxophone prog, rainbow toned krautrock, and tropical lounge pop. They’ve been on a hot streak as of the last few years, starting with 2017’s Escape Hatch and Starways, which collected some of their most confident and focused sonic explorations, including the balearic pop masterpiece “Valparaiso” (and the equally breathtaking remix by Nick Mackrory). Then last year, Jon and Pete joined forces with vibratory healer Laraaji for Eternal Beams, an incredibly beautiful expanse of new age spiritualism and restorative rain magic. Now, Seahawks have released Eyes of the Moon on Cascine, an LP inspired by the Hopi Tribe and Sufi teacher Hazrar Inayat Khan that musically explores smeared out zones of aquatic space synthesis and meditative Mu-Tron Bi-Phase mesmerism, while also working in sea-blue guitar atmospheres, island breeze rhythms, psychedelic chill-out rituals, world jazz drifts (featuring the EWI wind-controller/synth), and dreampop sways wherein mermaid choirs and angel voices swim together through oceans of starlight. The artwork by Yoshirotten is also something to behold…an immersive and otherworldly visual experience featuring paradise panoramas of pink, purple, and blue and futuristic landscapes fading into granular hallucinations.

Seahawks - Eyes of the Moon (Cascine, 2019) In “Emergence,” phaser-waves wash over airy shaker rhythms and machine cymbal taps as Amy Gedgaudas flows over top with a quasi-stoned monologue…like some sort of spaced out god floating amidst clouds of every color. Angelic choral progressions and intergalactic pad orchestrations pan back and forth as their melodies uplift the soul, the whole thing evoking early 90s The Orb at their most zoned out and euphoric. The phaser motions suffusing the mix are heavily modulated as everything is slowly obscured into galactic ether, all while vague hints of palm-muted guitar tropicalia from Alik Peters-Deacon waft through synthetic approximations of intergalactic transmissions and satellite calibrations. The vibe shifts dramatically at some point as shadows move in, bringing with them a sensual darkness built from bass pulses, underwater EWI and saxophone ambiance, and vibrato smothered guitars playing themes for alien deserts, all while the cymbal and shaker rhythms continue their fantasy glide. Eventually the effervescent orchestrations and narcotizing choir ecstasies return...their sea-spray motions wrapping around the spirit as dolphin mystics cast spells of light. But the effect is all-to-brief, as the conclusion of the track sees the ominous energies returning, with sparkling idiophones and bubble-clouds of chiming treble swelling above smeared out sequences, enveloping bass currents, and haunted string synth swirls.

Flowers of static bloom within wavering bass motions at the start of the "Eyes of the Moon”, as marimbas are slowly sequenced through tropical dream patterns. Citizen Helene’s synth-shrouded voice flows like a warmly pulsing body of light in an ocean of ether as tranced out phaserwaves descend over the mix (reminding me of Experimental Audio Research in the process). Kosmische sequences flow alongside seaside idiophones and chiming tones ring out from eternal mountaintops as a pulsating throb emerges, built from hushed drum movements that flange and phase wildly. Crystalline tones create balearic tapestries of aquamarine, electronics mimic seabirds, tambourines jangle away, and squelching sequences build in strength while soft cascades of synthetic fire glide through new age drone smears, eventually leading to a coda of meditative static and ominous shadow magic. “Color Temples” follows with an interstellar samba shuffle that features woodblocks and cymbals dancing playfully over warm kick drums. Dan Hillman’s EWI-generated feedback streaks intertwine with Jake Calladine’s spirit guitar, all soaring leads and wigged out prog descents dazzling the mind. As the rhythms cut away, they leave behind a dreamscape of strangely flowing pad movements, with resonant trails and phaser streaks weaving dayglo mirages. And when the subdued exotica rhythms return, they are surrounded by slow motion vortices of heart-melting enchantment while gaseous leads hint at glorious melodies…like themes for cosmic castles and mermaid kingdoms obscured through foggy fx layers.

Rapidly revolving whirlpools of white noise move through amorphous bodies of dream synthesis in “Astral Echoes” while whalesong drones wrap around modulating brass pads. Faith House’s lonely cyborg voice drifts freely amidst blowing space winds and sad string fantasias while feedback bodies glow like an infinite web of gemstones. A playful arp moves through the mix only to be repeatedly overwhelmed by boiling bodies of electronic ether while sorcerous siren songs flow out from a mysterious island hidden within the sonic miasma. Dan Hillman's cosmic sax blends into the myriad layers of synthetic sound and as Alik Peter-Deacon’s sparkling guitars vibrate through the air, we flow into a smokey outro of twilight jazz enchantment and tremolo riff intoxication. Then in “Run Through My Mind,” schools of rainbow fish swim through static oceans and pan-pipes introduce a spellbinding synth arp that sometimes wavers and wiggles as if threatening to split into two…like some sort of synthesizer cell division. Pianos are smeared into an LSD dreamfog as smoldering waves of noise crash onto some interstellar shore and during a dramatic drop out, everything seems like it is being sucked backwards through a blackhole. After the resulting stretch of silence, triumphant synth chords reintroduce the sequential fantasy melodies while the body is overwhelmed by white light drone hazes and pearlescent clouds of meditative noise that swirl forever…these multilayered vortices obscuring melodic fever dreams and kosmische color crystals floating deep with the hallucinogenic space storm.

In “Over & Over,” swinging exotica basslines ride an energetic downbeat rhythm of pillowy kicks, shuffling cymbal sizzles, and woodblocks and rimshots ring-modulating towards a sunset horizon. The heavenly horns of Dan Hillman and Simon Dobson are stretched and transformed into intergalactic goo…their harmonizing leads, scatting breaths, desperate wails, and gaseous moans surrounded by psychedelic wisps of fusion synth soloing. Things sound as if beamed in from an alternate dimensions…the sounds spectral, faded, and vaporous. And as the song works towards big band climax, poppy old world brass harmonies waltz over bongo and conga cascades while sea-creatures breach and dance together on shimmering blue wave crests. Morphing and mutating waves of granular noise splash off of Alik Peters-Deacon’s romantic guitar meditations in “Dancing Inner Space,” with golden arpeggios and chords flowing on liquid vibrato currents. All around swell blistering clouds of noise-drone transcendence and the seaside percussion of Charlie Michael works into a fantasy jazz rhythm…this pitch-perfect balearic sway moved around by seaside fusion tones and ambient space drones. Breaths and voices lurk deep within the amorphous synth haze and at some point the track zones out completely, seeing starshine electronics, heavily effected saxophones, and diamond-toned clusters emanate from the center of the cosmos as hovering drones merge with purifying blasts of white light.

“5th World Symphony” starts with tones of primordial creation…as if the birth of our universe is being told through a Mu-Tron Bi-Phase…layer after layer sweeping together through deeply hypnotic and vocal resonances. Lush e-pianos enter with bass chords floating the soul and high-up leads wandering through new age cloudrealms as tropical hand drums flow alongside the kind of intoxicating and fusion-leaning synthbass perfection that dominated Escape Hatch and Invisible Sunrise, all bubbling and bouncing lines exploring crystal caverns and underwater expanses. As ocean birds flit through rainbow hazes, we build towards a glorious climax of Phil Collins ethno-jazz led by double time cymbal patterns and paradise leads that swell the heart, all until the track breaks down into a cosmic slop of modulating sonic vapors and indescribable color radiations. When the basslines return, they now flow untethered from any beat and are thus transformed into a hypnotic dreamsequence leading a deep dive into some glowing star ocean. Everything seems increasingly obscured by purifying washes of starlight until suddenly, a swaggering slow motion disco beat emerges from the celestial void, bringing with it vibes of dubbed out dancefloor magic. Mystical flutes drift above tranced out synth repetitions while cymbals phase chaotically and piercing lasers background guitars that sound more like harps…their enchanting lullabies emanating from far below the surface of an eternal sea…each note rippling through the water and trailed by golden clouds of glitter.

(images from my personal copy)

[thesunlounge]

Private Agenda - Ultramarine (from Spaciousness, Lo Recordings 2018)

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 399: Ocean Moon & Lake Mary

Jon Tye’s Ocean Moon project has been especially active over the last couple of years. Going back to 2024, there was the release of Call for Peace with the expanded Ocean Moon Group, and also a colorful collaboration with Floating World Pictures, both of which came out as part of Lo Recordings ongoing cassette series of modern new age and ambient works. Then in 2025, Tye dropped two of Ocean Moon’s most significant productions…the bucolic blisscapes, optimistic light structures, and ideological explorations of Buddhism and artificial intelligence that make up Ways to the Deep Meadow on Music from Memory, and Shimmering States on Pinchy & Friends, the latter of which I listened to over and over again upon release, as it pushed the project towards more rhythmic formations of ambient techno and ambient dub, with direct 90s chillout evocations that called back to some of Tye's work in MLO.

Now to start 2026, Ocean Moon has released yet another transmission of transcendent sound with Empty Infinity, this time in collaboration with Lake Mary, the musical moniker of out-there guitar explorer Chaz Prymek. Prymek has been steadily crafting his own individualistic and iridescent landscapes of longform ambient based in the language of American primitive music for well over a decade. And the artist is no stranger to collaboration, the most notable of which might be the albums released as Jusell, Prymek, Sage, Shiroish aka Fuubutsushi. But even though Prymek has made music alongside a diverse array of artists throughout his extended discography, Empty Infinity is still a compelling and somewhat surprising pairing, one that might not be expected, but that ends up making a perfect sort of sense…as two artists from different zones of the experimental landscape unite to create something at the border between cosmic new age spiritualism and minimalistic and ultra-deep dream drone.

The Empty Infinity cassette comes out via Aural Canyon, and on the labels’s Bandcamp and also throughout the tape artwork, there are references to The Secret of the Golden Flower, a book related to Taoist teachings and a form of meditation called “internal alchemy”. This gives the experience an extra layer of sacred significance, and further imbues to the mesmeric musical formations with a spectral and supernal glow. And it is rather fitting that Empty Infinity is being released by Aural Canyon, as both Ocean Moon and Lake Mary have worked with the label previously. Tye and Ocean Moon put out one of my favorite tapes from the project in the form of Adventures in the Rainbow Vortex back in 2021…a tape I return to again and again anytime I need a calming, yet mysterious and imaginative experience of ambient new age bliss. As for Lake Mary, Prymek has released several works with the label…such as the KODA reissue, Once It's All On The Ground, and a recent joint work with Pinyonpine.

Ocean Moon & Lake Mary - Empty Infinity (Aural Canyon, 2026) “Without future without past” occupies the entire A-side, and begins with gentle tonal shadows and morphing molten oscillators that possess an almost physical growl. Silvery reflective slide guitar melodics bring an astral cosmic glow that disperses across rustic vistas of desert and dust, with the sounds backed by shimmering pads from the school of Rick Wright…the whole thing bringing a Floyd-ian vibe…like the atmospheric aura of “Welcome to the Machine” distilled to the purest essence of ambient and insterstellar psychedelia.  The haunting howls of bottleneck moving across six string arc across a soundbath of distorting dronal drift and celestial structures of vibratory light, and close listening reveals the creaks of stools and the clicks of pedals...sounds which further the sense of immersion…of the music as a live experience of mysticism and motion. As the extended journey develops, the blown out oscillations slowly recede, and so do all sensations of rhythmic form and movement…however subtle. This leaves the soul adrift in a shining void of phaseshifting feedback wavefronts and string synth incandescence, wherein barely there whispers of space age sequencing sometimes appear.

Over on side B, the title track sets pads like mermaid choirs aside streaks of choral crystal, with both locking into a sort of slow and skybound circulation. The sounds further blend with muted and subtonal guitars that sound like distant whalesong, and blooms of subsonic smolder surround melting strands of telephonic gemstone fantasy. The mix is enhanced by layers of hiss and hum, and the slowly moving swirls of sound that define the track’s structure increase in intensity and force, while layers of enigmatic motion in the depths of the substrata bring to mind some sort of ghostly string section. “A halo of light” follows with enveloping drones…perhaps sourced by a guitar under ebow…which push into self-distorting feedback as rainy day swirls of muted ambience hover in the distance. The whole thing reminds me of some Bardo Pond intro, only as if frozen in a state of etheric equilibrium, with amp hiss and static hum adding a comforting caress while ringing tones of self-oscillating chaos climb orthogonally out of the stereo field. The final track is “Wrapped in clouds,” and according to the liner notes, this is an Ocean Moon solo production. The mix is overlaid with more amp buzz, which backgrounds tremolo tempered textures of sculptural distortion, and wailing and wavering notes that decay towards the horizon. Glowing glimmers of noise shroud a desolate landscape of drifting buzz, as clicks and white noise whisps interrupt the organic and electro-somatic incantations of smoldering vibration. And there is little in the way of defined melody…with the track instead functioning as a study on texture, tone, and stasis.

(images from my personal copy)

[thesunlounge]

Jon Tye & Ulrich Schnauss - Orange Cascade (from Spaciousness, Lo Recordings 2018)

[earinfluxion]

Twisted Science: “Magma Hum” (Blown, Lo Recordings 1999)

As Twisted Science, Jon Tye always operated in the furthest outskirts of drum & bass — remember when “breakcore” wasn’t a thing yet and “drill & bass” was the name often applied to the most spastic and coarse offshoots of the genre? Twisted Science always betrayed even that description, always unpredictable in his combination of extreme noise, distortion, beatmaking, atmospheres, and sound mangling.