Planet Supreme

It seems that people who love electronics also have a little bit of a thing for space too. I don’t mean they like to live in roomy apartments, no, I mean the other idea of space – with the moon, the stars and the constellations and the planets. The Orb have spent most of their career up there, David Bowie was fixated by “..floating in a tin can, far above the world” – heck, even The Prodigy wanted to “send us to outer space, to find another race”.

Here’s another artist to add to this collection of musicians looking to go beyond our planet. “Planet Supreme” is both artist and album; the artist also known as Karl Rydby. Using field recordings, selected synthesis and analogue synths, this is another ambient trip amongst the stars.

It’s quite beautiful too. Rydby has a way to control pace and manipulate sound so that, even if seemingly not very much is happening, you are compelled to keep listening. There is a purity to the sounds chosen too, meaning the combinations seem organic, and almost real to what you may feel you are experiencing. It feels that everything is carefully thought out, and that you are in safe hands here. There are no pieces that don’t quite fit, or grating sounds that will irritate after a while. An amazing achievement considering this is the debut album.

“Holy Mountain” has a haunting vocal line that follows in the background, but keeps the other sonic elements (rain, drones, keys) tied together nicely. “Suns” carries this idea on, the vocal lines making the ambience spiritual-like. “Garden” even has a seemingly cheeky little nod to those Orb pioneers, with amongst a range of animal noises the sound of a rooster.

This album simply has to be listened to all together, it really shouldn’t be possible to separate the elements, as the effect of listening to this as a complete piece is incredible.