Stellar Om Source “Natives / Most Answers Never Unveiled”

25 Jul 2013 — Evelyn Malinowski

There truly is something special about Stellar Om Source's latest, Joy One Mile. The usual SOMS vibes are still there, reassuringly. The elements, however, are reconfigured, transformed. They've undergone a ritual. If someone played Joy One Mile before I had been able to hear it, without disclosing who it was, the music would perk my ears up, and I would eventually ask “who is this?” and comment, “that makes sense – I can hear it.”

What is it I evidentially hear?

Andrew's review of Joy One Mile touches on the way the track “Natives / Most Answers Never Unveiled” best allows the SOMS quasi-new age synth dreamscape to shine through – that exploration in transcending our acquainted reality in order to get to know the paradoxical nexus comprised of nature worship and utilization of technology, all in the company of positive energy. Putting that aside, we have to ask: what does a title like “Natives / Most Answers Never Unveiled” invoke?

Ritual, the sublime, failed hypothesis.

Change is complicated. Conversion is tedious. All of the elements have to be in the right place for fruitful re-imagining. SOMS's elements are present: neon colors, loops with unpredictable turns, fearless faith in both science fiction and earthy materials. She poured them over an ice tray to witness where on the grid they fall, then, after freezing them into aesthetic completion, we are gifted this... ice. 

At once with the album's inviting, initial track “Polarity,” we experience loops on the 303 seemingly created the way SOMS hitherto played the synth. That's the conversion, and it sums in celebration.

Basic experiments in freezing water and mixing vinegar with baking soda remind me of being in the third grade and watching Reading Rainbow while it storms outside. The show provided an atmosphere of possibilities and rainbows as the roof leaked. Paradoxes, perhaps specifically the paradox of watching a television show about books and reading, are ingrained into Joy One Mile, particularly in the case of “Natives.” Apart from the synthy intro to the show, the reason for the nostalgia evades me.

Working up a sweaty happiness when Christelle played last October at Berlin's Mindpirates, I took a moment to reflect while in the middle of the action. Looking around, I saw nothing but a blissful crowd smiling and dancing, including my visiting cowboy friend who had told me earlier that day that he loves that I've always loved techno but hates the stuff himself.

But don't take my word for it.

Joy One Mile is out now on RVNG Intl.