SOUNDTRACKS FOR IMAGINARY MOVIES

Soundtracks For Imaginary Movies, officially released in 2004, is SYSTEMS THEORY's first blow against the space rock scene and could make their musical style unshakable. Basically all members (Greg, Steven, and Mike) play various instruments and do programming, with keen sensitivity and supramundane majesty. They express themselves as a 'cinematic ambient spacerock world fusion' outfit and you can understand what should be said with feeling their space. Their ambiance is certainly worldwide - with classical, jazzy flavour, and ethnic, Oriental appearance.

You can be absorbed deeply into the Oriental atmosphere, in this two tracks 'Green Miata Baja Bound' and 'The Cool Vibe Of Asia C'. The former song has danceable melodies and rhythms with flavour of Indo-strings and Eastern percussive sounds, giving full play to your imagination of the faraway Eastern land. In the next slow ballad, shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo horn) and exotic percussion sounds play very active roles, so you should be confused as if you listen to Asian traditional music. 'Four Piece Suite', formed with four parts as the title says, has various emotional faces - a sadly graceful mellotron solo can let you weep, rhythmical and raindrops-like xylophonic synth sounds can make you dreamy, a dry techno loop can shake your body, and the last mixed sounds with a horn, electronica and percussions can raise your mind toward the sky. 'Silent Service' gets started with the sound of footsteps from the hell and chases you with speedy and streaming rhythms. This track is, I feel, one of the most avantgarde and most spacey scenes in this soundtrack. Indeed it's silent but short of breath for you surely. :-) In 'A Lifeboat, Tallulah And Me' are lots of seagulls crying and a keyboard solo weeping - please listen and think - you cannot help wondering how your life has been, in a lifeboat named YOU on the large sea. Instead of a spacey roadrunner in the previous track, you should stop a while and float on the green sea looking the blue sky - and the story goes on through the next 'Water Through Fingers'. In the beginning part solemnness and grandeur are around you as if you sink into the deep sea, in the middle you can find the seafloor very dark and very weird with such dangerous synth sounds, and in the last you should be absolutely free with the hugeness of the mellotron solo. Impressing! Again a slow ballad with ethnic flavour comes to you - 'Zero Sum Equation' is a comfortable area. I guess everything should reach the equation of zero...? Stable and gentle rhythms and melodies can remind you the wonderland you should go to. Lovely one. 'One Step To Freefall' - may not the above-mentioned wonderland be a wonderful land but a close-to-the-edge one? Extremely fantastic and fully plaintive melodies move you - into the violent fall. You should be immersed with SYSTEMS THEORY and no helper comes here. Are you prepared for the risk? The 'Last Letters From Stalingrad' should finish the movie with weird but awesome mellotron sounds and awful shout from Stalingrad...by whom? And the last scene should let you die with some funeral bells - and send you to the next world constructed by SYSTEMS THEORY.

A great movie and soundtrack by them - check it out! ;-)