Expansion Bay, Star Obsolescence (Spanish Music)

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Star Obsolescence hears Nathan Thompson of New Zealand processing instrumental sounds from previous band work and field recordings into a new musical journey. The three-part odyssey begins with "Lateral Drift I" which, while it may aspire to be an ambient eye-closer, tears at my brain like fingernails across a blackboard with a high-pitched, rusty-sounding squeal that simply never relents. Maybe something for the noiseniks out there (and I do like what I hear transpiring in the background) but I finally reach for the skip-forward button.

The title track is a multi-tiered atmosphere of whirlygigs, distance space pulsars and down to earth (literally) bird chatter. Eventually all is a-twitter, micro and macrocosmos mimicking - or communicating with - each other.

The twenty-minute closer, "Three Peaks", fills the air with the pealing of a hundred church bells. If "Star Obsolescence" was the sound of worlds communicating, then perhaps "Three Peaks" is the equally impressive sound of medieval villages communicating with one another through the only media capable of such range. Thompson has only "expanded" the number and effect and had the good taste to only occasionally adorn this bellscape with a spacey swoosh. And done so with flair. The piece ends with a soft, relaxing coda in order to ease the listener back into real time.