[Reviewed by Peter Marks]
Our solar system is a vast network of planets which orbit through the blackness of space in silence, on solitary watches they maintain their paths in the emptiness. Nothing intrudes save for the occasional piece of debris those meddling humans shoot into the skies or now through the soundtrack which they each now have thanks to the strangely compelling Thanet. We encountered him a few years back and have been processing the mammoth release he gifted ever since; now there is more, another entry into this strange journal he keeps which alternates between serenity and… something else.
It is that indefinable element to his work which has brought us here, to the exploration of what lies beyond the realm of our limited perceptions. The constant I have found on ‘System’ is that this very word is somewhat misleading, some will take his new album strictly on it’s face value which is a big mistake. He has through the use of his equipment managed to introduce a new manner of charting the very heavens above, his compositions do not hint at the possibility of life now but they definitely infer that there may have once been thriving civilizations predating our own by millennia if not eons. As with his last album the songs on ‘System’ are designed to be played late at night, preferably when distractions are minimal. Close your eyes and walk with him among the stars, try to envision what he has but remember: this is his domain.
Compared to ‘Receiving Calls’, Thanet up the tension considerably with each piece somehow being more engaging than the last. The gentle introspection we were so lured in by has been replaced with marauding menace. Perhaps he seeks to become that satellite which stealthily makes it’s way through our arena in the galaxy undetected. Somehow the cameras continue to capture their images and people back home sit in wonder at the majesty technology has revealed unto them. Who knows? Is this his tribute to the Voyager program which has now seen it’s own star move beyond the veil of our tiny corner in the universe or is it something of a deeper, more profound nature.
I’ve read no interviews and let me tell you, the press release was terse at best.
There is also the possibility that there may be no method to this whatsoever. Our composer could have just sat down over the course of these past few years and come across these occult transmissions completely independent of anything; the microfibers of reality are being inspected here. The best analogy I can give is of the space between the sands of time somehow giving up their secrets; Thanet explore just how infinitesimal a resolution this elusive commodity can be viewed at; the magnitude of what is contained in the midst of each passing second contrasted against the impenetrable enigma of eternity. We drift endlessly, unconscious of anything except the journey… here we are home.
Thanet – System
Mordant Music, MM080
CDr/Digital 2015
Santa Sangre 