I was recently contacted by OtherSide, a brand-new label who have recently issued their first two releases. Both are reviewed on the website this week, and these words concentrate on Matt Goodluck, an artist from Adelaide in Australia.
Goodluck is the lead vocalist with tribute act, Echoes of Pink Floyd, who describe themselves as Australia’s premier Floyd tribute act (judge for yourself at https://www.echoesofpinkfloyd.com.au/ ) and is also a voiceover artist.
His Inner Cosmos album is somewhat surprisingly, given these facts, an instrumental electronica work. It is also extremely good, an album that will appeal to fans of the likes of Tangerine Dream and Vangelis. Certainly, this work is atmospheric and allows the listener to immerse himself in a pleasing set of soundscapes and musical stories. The album is available from the label’s Bandcamp page at https://matt-goodluck.bandcamp.com/album/inner-cosmos
There are thirteen tracks on this suite, with only one more than six minutes, and I rather appreciate that brevity of statement, nothing here remotely outstaying its welcome. We open with Arrival, a nice short introduction with some slightly menacing sounds heralding a take-off.
Devolution follows. The word itself can have multiple meanings – here in Wales, we allegedly live in a devolved state from Westminster, but I think this track has the meaning of a descent, perhaps into another state of existence. It is embedded below, and I think that you will enjoy the thoughtful and reflective nature of this musical journey, the mood not quite dystopian, but certainly getting close at times. Absolutely, it is a fine symphony of keyboard mastery.
Dreaming is pretty, almost playful, and takes you into that unconscious level very well. It is most certainly not any kind of nightmare and gives us evidence of the ability of Goodluck to provide a range of moods and emotions in the story. Outer Limits is a title familiar to all classic sci-fi television fans, and here I reference the original series, not the vastly inferior recent remakes. It is a good title, because it does push at the boundaries of tunefulness and is a stark contrast to what preceded it, moody.
Interstellar is a longer track at just short of six minutes. You close your eyes, and you are enveloped in the vastness of that void between matter, the enormity of it all, but with the orchestral movement of the vessel travelling in the mind’s dream, or even the eternal journey we must all face one day. I think this is very good and I have embedded it below.
Rated R references Goodluck’s love of classic horror movies growing up. The sense of the dramatic with the thumping drums, the female panting, choral voices, sound effects and the brooding keys tell a wonderful tale.
Conspiracy is the aforementioned longest track, and it is interesting with its Public Service Broadcasting narration about CIA-funded experiments into the inherent dangers and evils of drug taking. “Mind Control” indeed. There is an appropriately psychedelic feel to this piece with its effects and extended trippy noises enveloping the senses. This minimalist track has fascinated me since the first listen and continues to give up more of its secrets the more I listen. It is embedded below.
Night of Anubis references by name the Egyptian deity who was their guide to the underworld, but with more voices explaining about killing the brain, thus killing the ghoul, it seems to be a direct follow-on from Conspiracy, dealing more with nightmares in our world as opposed to an afterlife. It develops full of disturbing noises amongst the Wright-type pulses a la Dark Side, but the closing seconds suddenly brighten the mood in an interesting piece.
Into the Blue has multiple sampled noises to start before we get a ship sounding the horn in an atmospheric song, a journey perhaps into the unknown, but not one taken with any great degree of trepidation, rather with a confidence of power to overcome the wind and the sea. Atlantis is a natural follow-on, then, as the destination is reached, Plato’s island long ago claimed by the sea owing to the inhabitants hubris attracting the opprobrium of the gods. There are more PBS explanations and film extracts in a track which nicely portrays a sense of wonder at what is being seen, the bassline particularly impressive.
Emergent I believe is Atlantis’s rebirth and emerging in its splendour from the sea, the keys exuding a sense of the majesty and power of either nature, or the deities responsible for what is witnessed. Neon is the penultimate track, and I think here that Goodluck means the root word “new” as opposed to the noble gas. There is some very nice electronic piano work on this piece, a dreamy delight full of wonder and pleasure at what is being seen.
The album closes with Deckard’s Requiem, which can only be a reference to the character played by Harrison Ford in Blade Runner, based upon the classic Phillip K Dick novel, I Dream of Electric Sheep. You are transported immediately to the wet, doom-laden world that the story evokes, a sort of corporate dystopian nightmare awaiting us poor mortals.
Inner Cosmos is a very impressive album, and certainly I will want to catch hold of any future Goodluck releases. There is a deep intelligence in this work, and it improves each time I hear it. Highly recommended.