Escape Velocity With Dynatron

Dynatron's Fireburner EP was released a few months ago and, to this listener at least, it felt like it was  a prelude to something much greater. With the release of Dynatron's debut LP I feel that the ideas and inspirations presented on the Fireburner EP have come to their complete fruition in Escape Velocity. This record is a vastly atmospheric work of space soundtrack synth which, like space itself, is timeless, vast and awe inspiring.



The album opens with a space disco energy through the opening chapters. Dynatron's sounds always seemed like the lighter and more energetic disco sound was more of a divergence than a calling. The opening Space Operators and a reprise of Fireburner provide the high energy rocket fuel needed to escape the gravitational pull of the planet, but once free of earthly shackles the mood changes. These introductory pieces are beautifully done, Space Operators is an optimisticly performed piece with great sample use and a build that does everythint but provide a countdown to launch. The aptly titled Fireburner is exactly that; a compustible and volatile mixture of space synth and disco that provides ample amount of energy to take our hopes and dreams into the star filled heavens above.

Once our journey enters the universe the disco sounds that got us to this point begin burning in a new way with different colours and powers at the helm. Propulsion Overdrive is much more spatial in it's sound, the tight enegy now spreads through nebulae around us and the energy of the beat is contrasted with much more atmospheric melodies. The stars of this track are absolutely the guitars, meteoric riffs of maximum rock'n'roll crunch through the ambience in a stunningly stellar way. This vignette serves as a transitional piece for the record as by it's end the atmosphere of space is reduced a sparking lone synth which becomes a guiding light through the odyssey ahead.

Aurora Nights marks the beginning of comtemplating brand new atmospheres, alien worlds that exist in dimensions most unlike our home planet. The mood of this piece has a slightly reflective but also has jubilant air, traversing a melody full passion and power. These sounds feel like Dynatron's real calling and the music feels completely unfettered, almost liquid in it's presence. Washing over the listener like waves in a cosmic ocean. This epic takes on even more movements of grandeur towards it's end, serving as a perfect segue to the next passage, the foreboding Vox Magnetismi.

As the hollow sounds of desolation echo throughout space it becomes very apparent that we are now light years form whence we came. The somber tones seems to look introspectively at what has passed. Eons, forgotten civilisations, an unknown history that will never be told. But we can feel it's presence, we can hear it's voice, the sounds of the past return with a haunting memory and a story we must heed.

The dark atmospheric synth continues into the next chapter: The Pulsating Nebula. The drum track provides at deliberate pace through space mirages of soulful synth melodies. This complements the much darker Vox Magnetismi with flourishes of hope that spark in the inky black depths of space. It's a controlled optimism, very restrained, but still bright and shining. Melodies lift like a gravitational force, searching ever upward and coalescing with the heartbeat of the universe.

Just as the hope begins to rise it becomes clear that there is more pain to bear. Bleeding Andromeda is a morose synth dirge, a funeral march that is deep with loss and grief on a cosmic scale. It's once again that Dynatrom brings pure and raw emotions in a minimalist synth track, massively charged with a passionate discourse into the machinations of the death of an entire galaxy. The empty space left behind is reflected in the melodies within.

Upon Bleeding Andromeda's completion a presentation of determination appears. The fight within the human condition, the power of one and the force of galaxies build with an unstoppable pace. The focus is intense, the need for this becomes clear as the exposition to the final chapter feels almost unattainable. But as each stanza of Pulse Power completes and as the instruments meld and combine their forces to one, an air of triumph becomes a tangible possibility. A chorus of uplifting space synth beauty spreads like a sunrise on the cosmic horizon, warming in it's glow and invigorating in it's presence.

But a paradigm shift occurs, what was a promise of new hope and new life becomes a Wormhole. A gateway to another universe, a beginning of a new journey fraught with more peril and danger. The excitement for new discovery is echoed through the synth melodies as new challenges await the listener. The music decays into a cosmic timepiece, ticking through light years of time and space with metronomic precision. Echoing through the endless dimensions, reinforcing the theory that the destination is not nearly as important as the journey itself. Taking flight to what lies beyond the Wormhole is now the only option.

As the last seconds of Dynatron's Escape Velocity fragment into nothingness it becomes a time of reflection. I don't think I've ever had such an unpredictable experience with this kind of album. It's contrasting tones and complete absence of coming to a definite conclusion make it thoroughly engaging but even more so you're left wanting more. I want to know what spatial dimensions Dynatron wants to enlighten us to, but I know that I'm not ready for this and the contemplation of Escape Velocity is really the satisfying reward. I'd actually liken the experience of this album as something akin to the classic Kubrick masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. The feeling that I'm only taking in a fraction of what is actually occurring and understanding that not understanding and just experiencing is where the magnificence really lies.

There isn't any other album that comes to mind that is like Escape Velocity as a whole package and this fact alone makes this records a bona fide Synthetix Reference Experience. An experience that gets deeper with each repeated listen and rewrds the listener with beautiful vistas of the stellar frontiers beyond the safety of Earth. Stunning.

Escape Velocity is presented by Aphasia Records on iTunes here and on their Bandcamp here, I encourage all lovers of fine space synth music to experience this album as soon, and as often, as humanly possibly.