SpacesMinuOne 1981 / Got Kinda Lost 2016
Islands In Space
Sending romanticism on a time warp for interstellar trip, Canadian psych rarity reappears in current reality.
By the early ’80s, orbital habitat lost its appeal to many but not to this band who refused to let go of the dream. Their sole album delivers an aural illustration to Gerard K. O’Neill’s most popular book, although where “The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space” has a scientific slant to it, “Islands In Space” is lyrical about human exploration of the Great Beyond. That’s why, with multi-instrumentalist Paul Marcano at the helm, the outlandish destination of the group’s trek was shaped in rather earthly terms – and laced with effects that beg for surround mix.
Snippets of raga and blues strewn across the record, its title track rolls universal wheels down acoustically paved route, “I Ride The Wind” wrapping this journey into Renaissance finesse, yet the exquisite guitars of epic “Atmospheric Dreams” are as acid-driven as sci-fi aficionados would want it. So while the organ-spiked “Voiceless Voice” flows in filled with a solemn ambience, and “Solar Winds” marries synthesizer’s oscillations to a strum, the cosmic flamenco of “The High Frontier” is pushing the envelope in much more textured, eloquent manner. “Farewell Goodbyes” an epitome of retrofuturism with its mesh of ’60s psychedelia and spaced-out electric vignettes, it’s a pity the appeal of this LP will remain in the realm of cult – fascinating and arresting as it is.
****1/3
