Astronomica – of1000faces (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

If ever there was a piece of music which deserves to be prominently placed in the next Sci-Fi blockbuster movie, then this is it. With it’s obvious Vangelisian, Blade Runner-esque fluidity and a video which revels in mystery, beauty and science fact, this short dream state slice of ambient cinematics goes beyond just being about music. It is about emotion, it is about, perhaps spiritual, contemplation, it is about looking up into the sky, or out into the desert, or into the depths of the ocean and seeing your own insignificance and mortality balanced against it. That’s more than music, right?

Although more often to be found lending his drumming prowess to any number of globally-renowned artists, Matt Walker’s own sonic quest is worlds removed from the big stage, big business path of his employers. A series of unfortunate, lockdown-related events found him in isolation and segregated from his family and it seemed that the more cut off from normality he found himself, the further his music took him into distant realms and far-flung galaxies.

Astronomica is the sound of the sonic building blocks of the universe being arranged into drifting dreampop and lush, lingering soundscapes. It is both meditative and thought-provoking, calm inducing and overpoweringly awesome in its scope. Sometimes the term music seems hardly adequete. This is one of those times.