https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Album Review: Øresund Space Collective, Universal Travels

oresund space collective universal travels

A look at jams past and jams still to come, Øresund Space Collective‘s Universal Travels is a collection that builds a bridge between some of the space-improv outfit’s earliest days — a studio session in 2007 — and a vinyl edition to be released of 2011’s Sleeping with the Sunworm. It is curated by none other than Øresund Space Collective synthesist and band leader Scott “Dr. Space” Heller himself, and I don’t think the wordplay on “universal” in the title is an accident. As much as they may be journeying across an untamable cosmos of their own sonic creation, so too are these tracks universally journeying. If anything, Universal Travels demonstrates that what one might call the “Locus Coeruleus” — the heart of the brain, as it were — of Øresund Space Collective has always been the outward intention of its craft. Comprised of six tracks totaling a pack-as-much-onto-the-disc-as-possible 79 minutes, the offering is made exclusively via four-panel digipak CD in order to help fund the construction of a studio in which Heller presumably will continue his and the Collective‘s mission of exploratory and improvisational vibing.

These are peculiar times for the interplay of art and commerce in underground rock and roll and its myriad microgenres. Like so much of everything, bands, labels, promotional concerns have been largely devastated by global pandemic financially — not to mention any loss of life — and have had to pivot in order to find ways to continue. That’s not quite what’s happening here. Øresund Space Collective have already wholeheartedly embraced the audience-engagement possibilities of digital media, offering Bandcamp subscription exclusives and self-bootlegs through the Internet Archive for any listeners who’d chase them down, as well as a steady stream of studio jams carved out of various sessions. As the liner notes (by Heller) describe, “Everytime (sic) we have entered into the studio we have recorded between 3-10 hours of material. Over a period of months some members decide what is the best material and we choose to mix this and create albums.” Thus, what one generally hears on an Øresund Space Collective studio album isn’t so much tracked as carved out. A glimpse at the whole. There have been several hour-plus jams unveiled in their entirety along the way — the aforementioned Sleeping with the Sunworm is one, divided originally into three 20-minute parts flowing together — but Universal Travels takes that sense of curation one step further, covering different sessions with various players involved.

The running order as is would not work on any other format — that is to say, if Heller wanted to do a vinyl at some point of Universal Travels, it would require editing and/or reorganization — but it effectively gives an as-it-happened feel to the proceedings, which is common among Øresund Space Collective releases. I know I’ve remarked on occasion after occasion about the band’s direct line to the creative process; their intention to capture a fleeting improvisational moment and find the treasure therein. It’s an ethic that’s grown no less admirable with time, and on the most basic level of listening, whether a session happened yesterday or 14 years ago matters little if at all. “Locus Coeruleus” and “Jam 26” open to immediate fluidity and breadth of vibe. The latter is more serene than the former, though perhaps outdone in that by the lap steel and sitar pastoralism of “Jam 12,” which begins the procession of tracks recorded in 2010. “Jam 12” itself was issued on the vinyl of Give Your Brain a Rest From the Matrix in 2012, and the subsequent “Anthem Rock,” “Santana Jam” and “Awaken” are from the say day of the same session. The same moment being captured, if you will.

oresund space collective universal travels inside

Synth and keys and guitar and sitar and effects gently intertwine on the 10-minute “Jam 12,” and as one might expect from the title — Øresund Space Collective have never lacked self-awareness, like many instrumental bands, when it comes to using titles to provide context or indicate the kind of atmosphere they’re going for in naming their tracks — the subsequent 20-minute splurge of “Anthem Rock” is somewhat more active. It has drums, for one. It also builds to a satisfying peak topped with a guitar solo worthy of both words in the title, as the group assembled careens wildly only to bring itself down at the finish with grace and a last swirl of keys and synth. “Santana Jam” likewise establishes its mood, the keys and guitar locking through a progression that, if it’s not actually Santana — and it might be — is close enough to it. At just over seven minutes, it’s the shortest inclusion on Universal Travels, and has a playful and meandering feel even as the drums enter for solidification. They end up elsewhere atop the original progression, and the jam seems like the kind of toss-off stretch that might happen while players are standing around waiting for something else. You don’t hear that kind of thing on records all the time, but it makes sense with Øresund Space Collective.

“Awaken” is the final piece and, like “Anthem Rock” before it, accounts for 20 minutes of runtime. It begins motorik in the bass and drums and boasts a winding guitar line in the forward position backed by periods of intermittent synth in and out. A mellower trip and wash take hold as it moves through the midsection, and a satisfying stretch of dream-drone melody and gradual deconstruction take hold in the second half. What’s happening there? I’m not entirely sure, but it’s easy to get lost in, and that would seem to be the idea. Certainly Øresund Space Collective are no strangers to such fare, but it’s worth noting that for being an 11-year-old recording, “Awaken” still feels fresh and retains the vibrancy of its creation. That is true of much if not all of Øresund Space Collective‘s work — they are a band out of time as much as out of space — but it is the fundraising/studio-building aspect that is at root behind this collection, and that’s worth acknowledging both as a reality of its making and a symbol of the group’s ongoing commitment to further adventures in sound. There are no shortage of places one might place one’s cash in a spirit of donation these days, but proportionally few that offer such potential in reward for doing so.

Øresund Space Collective on Facebook

Øresund Space Collective on Bandcamp

Øresund Space Collective website

Space Rock Productions website

Tags: , , , ,

Leave a Reply