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Children Of Alcyone (2014 Re​-​release)

by Steve Brand

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Brian Bourassa
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Brian Bourassa A fantastic textural journey that is immensely both simple and complex at the same time. It's akin to a lucid dream in a thick soup of haunting and calming soundscapes.

Although I just listened to this twice, I am eager to move to the third and fourth listed as there is surely more and more wonder to be revealed.
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1.
Golden Cloud (2014 Re-lease) 08:17
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2.
Light Age (2014 Re-lease) 22:51
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3.
Outside The Grid Of Time (2014 Re-release) 17:15
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4.
Into The Central Sun (2014 Re-release) 12:39
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5.
Children Of Alcyone (2014 Re-release) Album Sampler 10:00
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about

Tracks:
Golden Cloud | 8:18
Light Age | 22:51
Outside The Grid Of Time | 17:15
Into The Central Sun | 12:40

From the original 2009 Hypnos release notes:

The second release by Steve Brand on our Hypnos Secret Sounds imprint, Children of Alcyone demonstrates the characteristic otherworldly quality of the artist's best work. Generally quite simple, at times singlemindedly minimal, this work is nonetheless possessed of a depth and complexity that are revealed upon repeated listening. Stretched-out drone structures combine with subtle tribal/ethnic elements to create very effective atmospheres for almost hypnotic relaxation.

Though we're tempted to call Brand one of our favorite "new" artists, in fact he has been active as a recording artist for quite some time, having released many recordings under the name Augur, along with a handful of solo and collaborative works under his own name this past year.

Steve Brand says:
"The inspiring energy for Children of Alcyone was/is the books of Barbara Marciniak. Marciniak's books are said to be channeled information from the Pleiadians, our distant multi-dimensional ancestors from the Pleiades constellation. (Alcyone is the name of the "central sun" of this constellation.) Upon being introduced to these books, I was immediately taken by their wit and irreverence, the nearly unfathomable timeline of events, and their uncanny relevance to things that are currently taking place here on Earth (the first of these books were channeled in the early 90's).

The initial sound sketches for "Children" were begun in September of 2007 in the tidal wave of energy that was Steve Roach's "Into the SoundCurrent" masters' class, and elaborated upon, refined, and re-energized over the intervening 3 years in my own studio. The result is a sometimes murky, sometimes soothing, sometimes phantasmagorical series of excursions through multiple timelines, and myriad possible half lit universes that other versions of ourselves inhabit.

My frequent collaborator, Jonathan Benham, not only created the art for this disk, but contributed energy and sounds to a couple of tracks with his array of homemade instruments during a series of improvisations between he and myself captured at my studio."

REVIEWS .:.

"A supra-terrestrial theme also runs through Children of Alcyone, the second release by Steve Brand (who's also issued recordings under the Augur name) to appear on Hypnos Secret Sounds. The inspiration for the work came from the writings of Barbara Marciniak whose books supposedly channel information from the Pleiadians, distant ancestors of ours from the Pleiades constellation (Alcyone, incidentally, the name of the constellation's ‘central sun'). Initial sound sketches for the recording were produced in September 2007 during a master class taught by Steve Roach and were refined subsequent to it at Brand's studio. The material on Children of Alcyone is minimal, even simple, by design but is alluring nonetheless. Lonely tones whistle to one another across immense expanses, and a melancholy spirit shadows the four calming meditations. A brooding epic of long tones and ringing percussive flourishes, "Outside the Grid of Time" forcefully draws the listener into its murky depths, but the recording's coup de grace is the stirring "Light Age" where minimal synthetic tones unfurl gracefully for an entrancing twenty-three minutes. Showing a deft and pitch-perfect touch, Brand skilfully weaves the elements into hypnotic form, never hurrying the material along nor slowing it down too much either. The result is that rare thing: ambient music that's both artful and moving."
- Reviewed by Textura.org

"I have drifted my way through the four pieces in Steve Brand’s new release, Children of Alcyone, four times now–and by that I mean the recent now, in the past few hours, letting the thing loop quietly through my space, shaping the air, and quite content to have it do so. Children… is a straightforward ambient disc, designed for this sort of quiet, repeated and almost inattentive listening–but, as can be said for most good ambient discs, offering a lot of depth and interest to the focused listener. The content here is crafted in familiar, deep-sigh synth pads rolling in slow waveforms toward the horizon. Shifts in tone rise up infrequently to pull attention back to the music. (Again, as good ambient music does.) Brand shows equal strength in developing calming flows, as in the first two tracks, "Golden Cloud" and lush, 22-minute "Light Age," and tenser, more dramatic musical scenes, evidenced by "Outside the Grid of Time," which can at times be almost discomforting in its edginess. With the fourth track, "Into the Central Sun," Brand folds in sparse percussion for a low-level, unobtrusive tribal feel. In handling all these sides of his ambient self, Brand effectively creates a sense of narrative, movement and completion of thought. Outside of the opener, which comes in just under nine minutes, these are long, patient tracks. There is movement within each, with Brand exploring and developing their distinct personalities and themes with a certain hand. This is my second exposure to Brand’s music, and my appreciation for the quality of his work grows, not just with each new CD, but with each listen."
Children of Alcyone is a Hypnagogue Highly Recommended CD.
- Review by Hypnagogue

credits

released September 12, 2014

Jonathan Benham, additional sounds on tracks 1 & 3.

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Steve Brand

Steve Brand originally recorded and released in the experimental genre under the name “Augur,” with more than 20 limited edition releases on independent labels. In 2003, Steve began creating in the “ambient” genre under his own name. He has issued more than 40 self-released disks, as well as a number of solo and collaborative releases on AtmoWorks, Hypnos, Relaxed Machinery, txt and Databloem. ... more

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