Strangebird~Sounds - Minerals Form The Crust

 Released: January 16

Minerals Form The Crust is both a rather light listening experience as well as an intricate interweaving of sound. Using a combination of modular synthesis and found sound sampling, Strangebird~Sounds takes us on a nine track journey through the crust of an alien and wonderful planet. Each track is named after a specific mineral, most if not all of which a rather rare finds. The oddity of each name choice and the generally light synth sounds used gives a serious No Man’s Sky vibe and exudes imagery of strange and foreign landscapes filled with with bright colors and inexplicable forms of life. 

Opening with “AMETRINE,” the tone of the album is quickly set with light plucks and judiciously utilized bits of natural ambience. The synths provide the otherworldly and odd textures that evoke colorful and previously unexplored alien worlds while the soft ambiences provide the grounding in reality - as if to say that as strange as everything, is it it still a part of existence and has some relation to the regular world. “AZURITE” continues on with this theme as we hear the first bits of running water along with the gentle songs of unidentified birds. It is not until later in the album with tracks like “FLUORITE” that the grounding of these natural occurrences disappears and we are thrown full into the simulacrum of foreign worlds yet undiscovered. The album finale “ZEOLITE” takes this journey on its final leg as sharp arpeggios and percussive textures slowly meld into one another and fade away into a vast chasm of light and sound. 

The album has a very interesting approach in its progression, feeling as though it goes from somewhat grounded in reality to completely synthetic in a slow and gradual manner. The first few tracks have those grounded elements along with the modular synth oddities, the latter of which slowly fade away over the length of the album. It provides that slow evolution that takes the album from a neat exploration of themes and sounds, to something that feels like a true progression of ideas from start to finish.