ALOTTA HELLA DOWN IN ESTRELA

Recorded live in Estúdio Paraíso Nas Nuvens, Central Portugal on Sept 5-6th, 2022, this is the 34th album from the Scandinavian space rock collective who have been releasing albums since 2006. Given that the line-up is rarely the same, and the music is improvised, one can never be sure where the journey is going to lead apart from knowing it will be based in space rock and will undoubtedly be absolutely fascinating. I have reviewed this band since the early days of their career and always find myself playing the albums on headphones and falling deep into their world. This double CD/double vinyl set is more than 2 hours in length yet contains only five tracks, with the title cut taking up both sides of the first record and most of the first CD, as kit is nearly 50 minutes in length.

It is hypnotic in the extreme, lulling one deep inside the world of Dr. Space and his colleagues as we get taken on a journey where the rhythm section keeps everything together, the keyboards/synths provide a wall of sound and intermissions while the guitars lead us along the path. We do sometimes get fade ins or fade outs, but these pieces are culled from many hours of improvisations, where the musicians are bouncing ideas so it is obvious that not everything will make it to the final cut, so whereas I normally have an issue with that, here it makes perfect sense. I feel I need to call out Hasse, who plays bass on the aptly titled "Weberian Bass" as he plays the same pattern for ages, providing a constant melodic bedrock for everyone else, and the concentration it must have taken (let alone the physical effort) is nothing short of remarkable. It may not always be at the forefront, but I found myself drawn to it, and when I noticed the title, it felt apt that this effort has been recognised.

ØSC will not to everyone's tastes, but there is no doubt in my mind that when it comes to improvised space rock, they have no equal, and long may this continue. Yet another compelling and pulsating hypnotic release from masters of the genre.