This is the music of deep space, slow distant presences are revealed, with interesting textures and gigantic open areas where planets are small circles.
A beautiful and enriching journey
Electronic space music with a focus on visiting Saturn’s moons, four peaceful and introspective journeys to impossibly distant places primarily characterized by traditional electronic sounds and slow-evolving synth textures. Occasionally, stringed instruments such as an electric guitar, makes an appearance, with everything otherwise being heartily processed throughout.
Sergio Mariani skillfully uses the lap steel guitar and other evocative instruments, with just one sustained tone cluster entire worlds open before you, bringing to your mind the likes of Harold Budd, Brian Eno, and Daniel Lanois. The album serves as a testament to the artist’s inspiration drawn from his research on the Cassini/Huygens mission. The recording took place during the challenging days of 2019 and 2020, while the artist was traveling between New Mexico and Colorado.
Cassini is a beautiful and enriching journey, everything flows gracefully and effortlessly from deep space, offering an experience that truly uplifts the spirit, capturing the essence of being alone in space, aptly described as feeling “750 million miles from home, and infatuated by the ringed giant.”
Lander Huygens is a robotic space probe built by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. On January 14, 2005, Lander Huygens became the first spacecraft to successfully land in the outer solar system, specifically on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan.
This is the music of deep space, slow distant presences are revealed, with interesting textures and gigantic open areas where planets are small circles. Saturn has rings that make it unique, glowing electronic continuous tones, oftimes ascending. “Lander Huygens” (4:19) brings slow sustained reverberations and tones, “Titan Moon of Frozen Welcome” (3:27) Perhaps distances are changing, time ringing and humming like a piano wide open. This is an imagined first approach to the cold surface of Saturn’s moon Titan.
The projection of a romantic classical electronic music mood ::
Cassini was the fourth probe to visit Saturn and the first one to enter its orbit, where it stayed from 2004 until 2017. “Saturn’s Exposé” (8:51) brings a feeling more complicated than the first two tracks. New elevating drones and so much more, the music slow motion peaceful restful, distinctly with an electric guitar presence, steel strings barely touched and reverberating. Exquisite! The album’s powerful space-themed action is slow and sustained, the projection of a romantic classical electronic music mood is always holding strong.
There has been speculation that rainfalls of diamonds occur within Saturn’s atmosphere due to chemical compositions, combined with heat from friction and pressure. “Diamonds Raining” (9:27), with hissing and shimmering, imagine glittering particles flowing through the ominous undertones that emerge, followed by deeper tones that have unique darkness. A rain of diamonds probably would make navigation rather difficult but it might look really cool, now I imagine white capped lakes of clicking slippery diamonds on a windy day.
Sergio Mariani is an obviously talented musician who has been calling the United States his home for the past three decades. With roots in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sergio enjoyed a prosperous musical career there many years ago. He continues to play a significant role in the Electronic Music movement beginning during the early 1980s.
Cassini is available on EQ, an EC Underground ambient sub-label. [Bandcamp]
