Long regarded as Russia’s foremost electronic music duo, put simply Moonbeam create music unlike anyone else on the planet. Following 2009’s ‘Around The World’, ‘The Secret’ (2011) and the Original Soundtrack to their 2013 feature-length movie ‘The Random’, Moonbeam’s fourth international album ‘Atom’ follows in the Khvaleev brothers’ grand tradition of the untraditional.
‘Atom’ is another tight-as-they-come, 10-track compression of leading-edge sounds & studio techniques that determinedly slalom around block-terminology & categorization. Drawing on a flourishing home-grown talent pool of singer/songwriters – Avis Vox, Eva Pavlova, Irina Makosh, Aelyn, Sopheary & Deniz Reno among them, they further lend the otherworldly ether & atmosphere that mark the Khvaleevs extraordinary sound.
So prepare to take another trip to electronic music’s otherside, as Black Hole Recordings once again proudly present the extraordinary long-playing ethereal-ism of Moonbeam.
Mood house? Dream-prog? Dark-trance? Or just straight deep, dark, moody & dreamy everything – there’s no one more averse to classifying what they do in the studio than Moonbeam themselves.
Within ‘Atom’s opening 5 minutes, that ‘off-piste’ nature is put into the sharpest of perspectives. Engaging sounds & FX from the deep-space recesses of their studio boxes, ‘Atom’s title track begins to outline Moonbeam’s next album mission.
Initially deep house in the engine room and supremely chilled trance up top, xylophone meets chip-tone on ‘Soulstring’, as they factor another star gaze instrumental into ‘Atom’s astronomy. Reinforced by Moonbeam’s brilliantly trippy beats and mind-bend synthesizers, under her Loolacoma alias Avis Vox returns to the mic to open the album’s third act with the seductively sung ‘Black Skies’.
Seattle-based vocalist Sopheary picks her words & intonations with manifest care on ‘Heaven’, as Moonbeam closely track its feel with swimming melodics and punchy drum programming. Every bit as authentic and cultured, Deniz Reno delivers the album’s swansong with the torchlight closeout of ‘Memories’.
With ‘Atom’ your taxi to the darker, more thought provoking side of electronic music awaits! Step aboard this May 18th.
Listen to Moonbeam Atom Mini Mix
Moonbeam – Atom – Tracklist
01. Atom (7:06)
02. Still Believe (featuring Irina Makosh) (7:50)
03. Shades of Black (featuring Aelyn) (7:08)
04. 13th World (featuring Avis Vox) (5:46)
05. Atmospheric (featuring Ange) (6:07)
06. Follow Me (with Indifferent Guy featuring Eva Pavlova) (6:35)
07. Soulstring (5:52)
08. Black Skies (featuring Loolacoma) (5:47)
09. Heaven (featuring Sopheary) (4:42)
10. Memories (featuring Deniz Reno) (5:53)
