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LP
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BEWITH 083LP
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Ocean Moon is a solo project from Jon Tye of Seahawks. A long-time explorer of the sounds of spaciousness, having released the ambient classic LP iO in 1994 as MLO, Crystal Harmonics is a document of Jon's latest discoveries. Island Visions (BEWITH 077LP), the recent collection of music from Seahawks for KPM, touched on the deeper, more spatial side of music and led to Jon exploring this territory in greater depth, again for KPM, under his Ocean Moon alter ego. This time he brought along some of today's most visionary musicians: Jon Brooks (The Advisory Circle, Ghostbox) for his intuitive melodic mastery, Seaming To (Graham Massey's Toolshed) for her extraordinary vocal talents, Steve Moore (Zombi) for his sophisticated and inventive rhythmic sensibility, and Richard Norris (The Grid) for his sensitive and deeply resonant ambience. The initial recordings were made at The Centre Of Sound in Cornwall, with the collaborators various contributions coming from London, Derbyshire and the US. The supremely serene electronic flute and bells of "Crystal Drift" ease you into the journey and you take the next steps with "Rainbow Ripples" as it gently folds space with arpeggiated synth swells and delicate machine beats. Light vocal tones, bells, and breath FX on "And Breathe" keep you going, accompanied by synth drones and billows of electric piano. You travel through the synth-space-surf haze of "Lost Oceans", with soft bass and warm ambience, to reach the "New Infinity" of revolving melody, spacious pads, and light electronic beats. The celestial tone floats of "White Mirror" close out the first side. Temple bells ring out to running water flowing together with deep resonant vocal tones as the second side opens with "Peace Bells". "Revolving and Evolving" follows, a tranquil electronic meadow of lush pastoral synth tones where you rest for a while for "Mountain Dreaming", a light rhythmic dance of zither and birdsong. The undulating "Forest Motion" ripples with synth arpeggios, dreamy Solina strings and percussive modular electronics before allowing the crackling ambience and Cantonese whispers of "Sleep Golden" to wash over you. Finally, you find yourself on "The Long Path", its warm temple ambience of drones and chants guiding you home. Crystal Harmonics is inspired by four particular albums from KPM's catalog: There's The Electronic Light Orchestra by Adrian Wagner (1975) and then Temple Of The Stars, Breath Of Life, and finally Keith Mansfield's Circles, these last three coming from KPM's mid-1980s run of modern classical/new age gems. Mastered by Simon Francis, cut by the legendary Pete Norman.
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