Review Summary: Where no man has gone before.
Space is quite an empty place, yet so vast. No life has been found, and yet many try to find the unknown. It’s a cold, dark and lonely place to be, and to sum it up, it’s f
ucking space: the final frontier, where no man has gone before, et cetera, et cetera. A Slow Descent (a one-man project by the one and only Mr. Nash J.) perfectly embodies these dark and brooding feelings, the despair and isolation of being in such a desolate place, and does it in only fifteen minutes.
"Dance With Me Upon His Secret Ocean" is a “concept” EP, taking place on “Europa”, one of the many moons of Jupiter. The main concept revolves around a group of astronauts who venture to Europa. Distracted by the beauty of the moon, one of the astronauts goes missing, resulting in one of her fellow crew members to go out and search for her. This search ends in his demise, as he slowly suffocates underneath the icy surface of the vast landscape.
In only fifteen minutes, this concept is carried out, each track carefully and delicately detailing the plight of the unnamed astronauts.
”The Cold Surface of Europa Burns our Spaceship's Feet” starts off quite odd, but picks up the slack immediately, beginning the first phase of the story, and the difficult landing on Europa.
”She Walked Upon the Surface Against My Advice” continues with the disappearance of the crew member, and the beginning of the hopeless search. Despite the sound of the synthesizers being a bit too “amplified”, there’s an air of great despair due to the atmospheric instruments, pulsating with every note being played.
”Gracefully Sink Below the Ice Until Your Helmet Bursts” flat out states the ending, and concludes the EP with the demise of the unnamed astronaut as he sinks beneath the icy surface of Europa. The fate of the female astronaut and whether or not if the other astronauts either lived or perished in their (likely) search for the two who had gone missing is more mysterious than all of outer space itself. But perhaps this story will be expanded upon in the future. In the end, it’s all a dire and frankly hopeless situation. And that is why this EP works so damn well, and not only is it because of the atmospheric synths, or the barely-audible dialogue, but because it is just well orchestrated and thought-out.
With a sound similar to potentially the greatest keyboardist of all-time, Klaus Schulze, A Slow Descent is a project well worth giving your time to. Most likely the greatest artist to come from Sputnikmusic, A Slow Descent’s debut is the first step in something special, and not quite the last one either. Plus it takes place in f
ucking space goddamnit, check it out
now.
