Colonial Skyway - Until Satellites Collide

 

Released: February 12

Until Satellites Collide is a rather interesting follow-up to Colonial Skyway's last release in 2023. While last year's Evening on Earth had a much more prominent bent towards long drones and static-y textures, this latest album incorporates more complex textures and rhythmic devices to create soundscapes that go far beyond drone much of the time but diving back into it periodically with certain level of industrial intensity or a quiet simmering quality. "Above the Meadow" is a great example of the former as it starts out soft and gentle but ramps up quickly with the first couple of minutes into a fog of noise that is bolstered by a dull hum underneath it. At certain points, the intensity grows so loud that it almost feels like a jet passing overhead for an impossibly long time. Immediately following this track, we get a taste of the latter with "Rain Like Sixty" as the sound of pattering rain comes through early and is joined by an accompaniment of humming pads that make the rain sound as though it irregularly blips in and out of existence. 

Even with his drone roots on display, Colonial Skyway moves away from these static textures regularly in the course of the album's runtime. In the slightly unnerving "Toy Dust," the atmospheric drones of static take a backseat to the warped and twisted pieces of music that sound like the are out of a nightmarish version of an early Disney cartoon. The sounds occasionally come across as lackadaisical but are undercut by the static and inconsistencies in sound quality, creating something unsettling. There is something similar at play in "Nike Sites Adjusting" with highly manipulated pieces of old-sounding music being interrupting by static, clicks, and other weirdness. While the drones make for pleasantly heavy atmospheres, it is the tracks like these two that really make the album for me. Such an interesting exploration into sound manipulation that is effectively bolstered by some familiar techniques.