Unknown Me

Japanese synthesis squad UNKNOWN ME’s latest sequence of electron blueprints is true to its title, evoking a sense of lunar wonder and stargazer reverie, inspired by notions of “20th century space development.” Astronauts expands the group’s signature mode of spatial restraint and hushed harmonics with accents of angelic voice, solar samba, sleeping pod hiss, and futurist vocoder, flowing between moods of heavenly astral drift and nostalgia for life on earth. The album’s eight songs float in an airless limbo of exploration and emotion, final frontiers and memories of home, zero gravity ambient zones conjured from an array of old analog Roland and Juno synthesizers. UM visualist Osawa Yudai’s artwork furthers the theme, abstracting “the universe, the stars, the lives of the space ship into the shapes of sound grains and waves.” Lift off and prosper.