Russian composer Alisa Coral is the driving force behind the international Space Rock project ‘Space Mirrors’, but it was her 2002 solo album “Neutron Star” which paved the way for this endeavor, strengthening her reputation as The Space Lady of the Russian Underground within the electronic music community.
“Neutron Star” first saw the light of day under the group moniker ‘Mirrors’ as an independent release on CDR, but in 2005 it was beautifully remixed and remastered, including the ten minute bonus track “PSR 0220 + 02”.
The CD harkens back to the early experimental works of pioneering giants Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schultz, Tim Blake, Steve Roach, Harvey Baindridge, and Louis and Bebe Barron - creators of the ‘Electronic Tonalities’ employed in the 1956 electronic score “Forbidden Planet”.
Unlike many new age artists who aspire to capture the mysteries of the universe with sweeping layers of sampled string instruments, Alisa Coral’s combination of analog and digital synthesizers provide a texture of ominous drones, eerie modulating echoes, washes of ambient soundscapes, and sequenced blips and beeps to give a trancelike heartbeat and Voice to the expanding galaxy.
“Neutron Star” is mood music for star gazers – an intergalactic travelogue through the vast regions of space – or an introspective window to the subconscious mind.
Required listening for fans of adventurous ambient electronics – and Planetariums.
Reviewed by Joseph Shingler on May 16th, 2007
