Motion Sickness of Time Travel – Luminaries & Synastry

“I have already told you of the sickness and confusion that comes with time travelling. And this time I was not seated properly in the saddle, but sideways and in an unstable fashion. For an indefinite time I clung to the machine as it swayed and vibrated, quite unheeding how I went, and when I brought myself to look at the dials again I was amazed to find where I had arrived. One dial records days, and another thousands of days, another millions of days, and another thousands of millions. Now, instead of reversing the levers, I had pulled them over so as to go forward with them, and when I came to look at these indicators I found that the thousands hand was sweeping round as fast as the seconds hand of a watch — into futurity”.

- H.G. Wells – The Time Machine

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With her debut album Seeping Through The Veil Of The Unconscious resulting in Motion Sickness of Time Travel being propelled to the forefront of many experimental music fan’s consciousness, Rachel Evans returns with the full-length Luminaries & Synastry, released on Digitalis.

When an artist gets such widespread and vocal acclaim from critics and fans alike, one tends to expect either of two situations; an overhyped flavour of the month or someone who is genuinely redefining a given genre through their music. Motion Sickness of Time Travel certainly falls in the latter camp and this second full length album offers music created with instruments and tones which are perfectly normal in of themselves, but somehow they culminate to form something new. Take the most formless vocal harmonies of Blondie’s Debbie Harry and perhaps add a little of French synth punk-rock pioneers Metal Urbain and then we may begin to approach a hint of Evans’ sound, but still not quite, she really is original.

The album opens with Luminaries and one is reduced to searching for metaphors in an attempt to explain the strange sound with words. An ambient pulsing synth leads the piece and Evans forms a sound of her own, steeped in LFO harmonies, with a definite uplifting timbre. The rhythmic electronic synthesis continues forward into Luminaries & Synastry and the artist conjures audial images of a world reminiscent of H.G. Wells’ Utopian vision for the future.

This unique, futuristic sound continues with third number Late Day Sun Silhouettes and Evans’ methods and style remains difficult to pin down. This is the crux of Luminaries & Synastry – the more one attempts to define Rachel’s intentions, the further they slip away from grasp. Better instead to enjoy the whirling, strange and very much otherworldly musical journey.

Luminaries & Synastry is an album comprising eleven tracks of a quite particular tone, yet it still sees Evans experimenting in a truly original way. It is truly a beautiful and forward thinking work of electronic tones, achieving much with its mood elevating harmonies. Fitting then that it is a Summer release as it shall no doubt prove a soundtrack to the next few months of long days and warm nights.

- Adam Williams for Fluid Radio

Luminaries & Synastry is available through Stashed Goods in limited edition coloured vinyl and also includes a CD copy of the album that features two extra tracks not on the vinyl!

www.motionsicknessoftimetravel.blogspot.com
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