SKYENCE – COMPANION EP – MODULARFIELD

After a well-received debut album (‘Untrodden Soil’), Skyence returns with a five-part EP examining the theme of companionship in the context of incredibly large spaces. The five tracks are linked, so in effect we have a suite lasting close to 25 minutes of slowly shifting encounters in a musical outer space. The title track is extremely spacious but there is a comfort to the slow moving vastness, and also a very subtle pitch variation to the long held notes that gives them greater flexibility. The thick ambience is dressed with glassy piano notes in ‘Present Perfect’, with a slow and gorgeous string loop that gradually evolves, before a solid bass drum kicks in. ‘In’ei Raisan (In Praise Of Shadows)’ pans out again to a bigger perspective, while a slow, lumbering beat brings in a heavily treated vocal for ‘A Body Is Not Enough’, complemented by big, minor-key harmonies. Finally ‘Past Perfect’ acts as a consoling drone, with calm restored. Listened to as one, this is a really strong sequence of wholly immersive ambience, and highly recommended.
 
Ben Hogwood
5 out of 5