Astral Magic Music 2023
feat. Bridget Wishart –
Ad Infinitum
Finnish maven of all things otherworldly embarks on a trip with stellar fellow commuters and female figurehead.
What started as DJ Astro’s lockdown pastime has long become something much more serious, with more than thirty full-length albums seeing the light of day over the last three years, and the tellingly titled “Ad Infinitum” seeming to be the project’s twelfth release of 2023. But while previously it veered between cosmic electronica and space rock, recently the latter style began to prevail – unsurprisingly, given the series’ mastermind’s real-life name is Santtu Laakso, and he used to play bass in DARK SUN – and the virtual ensemble’s log entries began to include veterans of the psychic wars. And who’s better qualified to front these warlords now if not Bridget Wishart, the former valkyrie of HAWKWIND and the lady able to bring acid-folk sensibilities into any environment? With a few kindred spirits aboard, here’s a great vehicle to sail beyond the pale.
That is why this flight is launched via “Shine” which doesn’t take a lot of time to build momentum to switch on its mirrorball and hit the ground running along alluring grooves, Wishart’s deliberately deadpan intonations fleshing out Laakso’s dancefloor-shattering four-string meander and ever-shifting layers of synthesizers shot through with Vince Cory’s effervescent guitar, before “Liquid Light” turns solemn serenity into fierce pulse to offer an even brighter disco vista. Yet if “Future Doors” marries heavier riffs and keyboard passages to pop tune, “Planetary Intelligence” explores deeper reaches of sonic expanse, instrumental weave directing the listener’s brainwaves to mental frontiers and Santtu’s bottom-end vein bulging over aural exotica. And then there’s the titular epic, the almost nineteen minutes of ambient rapture, deferring the arrival of Bridget’s vocals in order to properly construct the wonderwalls of a sprawling pseudo-orchestral cathedral where Lauri Kajander’s slider rolls and exquisite fingerwork feel so saliently seductive and magnificently welcoming – especially once bluesy licks and funky rhythms meet in abstract orbit to proceed towards beatific arcadian landscapes.
It’s a reverie that everyone’s invited into – from here to eternity.
*****
