Mothership – Michael Regina (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Staying in your lane might be fine regarding road safety, but in many other scenarios, it is less than desirable. Music is undoubtedly one of those. There are many examples of artists coming through and making their name with one signature sound or style and then merely repeating variations of that theme or genre for the rest of their careers. It is an excellent way of making a name for yourself, securing a guaranteed audience and even maximising your record sales. However, there are better ways to add to the musical landscape, to make the sonic canon richer or more interesting. This is something that Michael Regina knows only too well.

And I say all of this to illustrate that although Michael has a long and thorough background in both foot-on-the-monitor rock and roll as well as the more formal world of classical music, the musical path that he pursues today runs through neither. Lanes are clearly there to be explored.

I remember being enthralled by the scope and structure, the sophistication and sonic sentiment of Stargazer, my first encounter with his music but his 5th long-player, and right from the titular opening track, it is clear that we have returned to a similar place. (For those keeping count, Mothership is his tenth album, it seems things move fast in Michael’s world!) It is a place where the digital delicacy and deftness of the electronic word are entwined with the sound of the analogue. Where music is more often made to drift rather than drive, where the groove is frequently replaced by grandeur and grace, where poise is more important than power. 

That said, there are definitely tracks on the album where more rock and pop elements take the fore. Silver Starway, for example, employs four-four beats as an engine room, over which the more gossamer sounds are drapped. Space Funk Maestro, as the title suggests, runs on a more groovesome energy. At the other extreme, tracks like Farthest Point capture perhaps the desolation and pathos of being alone in space, drifting through the outer reaches into the unknown.

It is between these two sonic worlds, that of beat and beauty, of groove and gossamer grace, that some of the finest moments are found. Ancestral Planets captures the ebb and flow of the classical world but creates a downtempo, Vangelisian vibe to bring those sounds into a more cinematic and futuristic setting. Then there are the gentle ticking beats coupled with the delicate electronic washes of Transmission, its riffs and sonic waves themselves reminiscent of received sounds from the far-flung points of cosmic contact.

Classical in its fluid and grand nature, electronic in its instrumentation, new age in its vibe and filmic in its scope, Mothership is a gorgeous return to the soundscape that Michael so brilliantly forged on Stargazer. The same blend of contemporary structures and traditional textures, of grand sonics painting pictures of even more awe-inspiring space-scapes. And like the cosmic spaces that he explores here, proof that even with two majestic albums behind him, there is still so much further to travel, so much more music to make, and so many more worlds to musically conquer.