Cosmos in Collision‘s Unwound arrives two years after The Passage of Time and confirms the direction of an ever-evolving project, capable of building dense and cinematic atmospheres. The cover artwork is an original watercolor by Cosmos in Collision, visually translating the narrative arc of the record: three chromatic fields blending from indigo to black, crossed by a white thread that slowly thins until it disappears.
A conceptual work deeply rooted in both the real and supernatural worlds
Electronic instrumental sounds exploring the lines between sci-fi, ambient, electronica, post-rock and shoegaze, featuring layers of ethereal guitars, cinematic atmospheres, shimmering soundscapes and intricate rhythmic textures that are combined to create an evocative dreamlike flow of unnatural and entirely enchanting sound. Unwound is a conceptual work deeply rooted in both the real and supernatural worlds inspired by the myth of the Three Fates. Each has a different role in weaving the destiny of the collective constant listeners. They are shapeshifters and guardians of the pathways into the earth and of the “limit” frontiers where it is believed that the supernatural most freely manifests itself. The trio are generally conceived of as sisters and are often given the names Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, which are the names of the Moirai, the version of the Fates who appear in Greek mythology. This trio is also found in Vedic Ṛta, the Avestan Asha (Arta), and the Egyptian Maat, as well as throughout some of ancient Northern Europe. These divine figures are often artistically depicted as beautiful maidens with consideration to their serious responsibility, which is specifically the life of each mortal. The traditional role of the Three Fates is to ensure that every being, mortal and divine, lives out their destiny as it was assigned to them by the laws of the universe. Some would say that Lachesis sings of the things that were, Clotho the things that are, and Atropos the things that are to be. Clotho with thread, Lachesis with an eye glass, and Atropos with scissors.
Throughout history, Time has been an important subject of study in religion, philosophy, and science, and perhaps most of all in Music. The universe is infinite, which is distinctly an obsession (and perhaps an exclusive illusion) of humans. Multiple notions exist, and defining time in a manner applicable to all fields without circularity has consistently eluded much of the traditional scholarship. Here, on the extended player Unwound, the Fates shape the temporal sonic destiny of each human, expressed in textile metaphors, hence spinning fibers into yarn, or weaving threads on a loom. Time (again) is a fundamental part of this musical universe, perceived by events happening in a sequence, in a dimension, the moment the thread starts to wind into a form for the warp and woof of existence. The first track, “Breath (Clotho)” (5:30) opens like a sunrise, with a melodic and ethereal theme, evoking the first breath, easing in as a melody starts, forming a circular repeating, and richer fuller thicker experience as we go deeper into outer space, wary of shadowy, background figures who only really ever reveal their fateful secrets to people at the moment that their fates actually come to pass. Clotho is often depicted as a younger woman because of her relationship with the birth of humans.
Three chromatic fields ::
Track 2, “Unwound (Lachesis)” (7:33), is the measured beating heart of the EP, a long journey through the highs and lows of existence, carried by rhythmic textures and ever-shifting soundscapes. For mortals, this destiny has spanned their entire lives and is represented as that thread spun from a spindle. Once the circles start spinning, slowly at first, we are in touch with deep space and though there is no dominating beat, there is a tempo in the cycles here. These are each different dancing snowflakes, which are so soon melted into the aggregate exquisite liquid details. These overlapping elements combine and conflict in different ways. Lachesis (the allotter) calibrates the life under judgement, measuring out and determining the length of human life as if it were a thread, in the natural order which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe. The combined measurements mark a specific moment in time from a reference point, or epoch. Perhaps the only important parts of the natural order are birth and death, remembering that time is neither an event nor a thing, and thus is not itself measurable nor can it be travelled, except, of course, on occasion in dreams.
Atropos is traditionally pictured as an old woman because of her hand in the death of mortals. “Severance (Atropos)” (4:19) closes the release with a painful crescendo culminating in the final cut, inevitable and silencing. Atropos chooses the manner of each person’s death, and when their time has come, she cuts their life-thread with her famously abhorred shears. The rotating and revolving melodic weave suggests pondering fatalism, or the subjugation of all events or actions to a universal destiny, and the acceptance of the inevitability of the natural order of things. As the universe expands, some humans say that it pulls time with it because space and time are somehow linked as one.
Cosmos in Collision‘s Unwound arrives two years after The Passage of Time and confirms the direction of an ever-evolving project, capable of building dense and cinematic atmospheres. The cover artwork is an original watercolor by Cosmos in Collision, visually translating the narrative arc of the record: three chromatic fields blending from indigo to black, crossed by a white thread that slowly thins until it disappears. Cosmos in Collision is a musical journey of Riccardo Spaggiari, who is based in Italy.
Unwound is available on Sun Sea Sky. [Bandcamp]
