Bonus Ambient EP Announced
SINEDRIFTER has announced the 1 December release of their bonus ambient EP, APOLLO 89, which will drop at the same time as their new album, OF(F) COURSE.
“This is a musical journey. APOLLO 89 is centered on the main track, THRUSTERS OFF (PYRAMIDS), which runs just over 41 minutes and uses slow synth sounds, effects, and subtle silence to create a sense of space, so to speak,” says Cam Arjent of SINEDRIFTER. “The night that THRUSTERS OFF (PYRAMIDS) was improvised in my darkened studio, lit only by my computer monitor, the blinking lights on the Virus TI Polar that I used, and the screens and LEDs on my effects units, I just felt it,” they say of the production environment. “A weightlessness, a disappearance, and an instinct that moved me to certain notes was there. I was in a spacecraft free falling after shutting off its engines. But it’s all relative, because you are traveling through space so quickly, but because of the largeness of the planet above, and the uncountable miles between yourself and the stars all around, you’d might as well feel like you’re perfectly still. This was a really fun experiment. I was able to travel forward through time to the Apollo 89 mission and be a part of it. This is why I love making music.”
Developed during the production of SINEDRIFTER’s debut album OF(F) COURSE, the more experimental APOLLO 89 takes the B-side of the new LP down a long and broad route. Arjent explains that, “The first track we completed for this collection, ‘THRUSTERS OFF (PYRAMIDS), which is almost 42 minutes long, really ended up being the creative trigger for the rest of the EP. I figured, ‘Hey, this is some pretty trippy stuff here. I should follow it and see where it leads me!’” APOLLO 89 forms a narrative and story that follows an astronaut from the embrace of their lover to a dark expanse from which they might never return.
The other four tracks – LAST KISS, SETTINGS, ORBITER, and ANOTHER SCENE IN THE EVENING SKY (PT. 2), respectively – create a story that Arjent wanted to tell. “What would the world look like by the time there’s an Apollo 89 mission, assuming humankind makes it that far? Where would they be traveling? How would it feel for an astronaut to kiss their lover goodbye? Would it be their last kiss? What would it be like to be at the helm of a spacecraft, facing all of those controls, and what would the view of that great, dark expanse be like? After the engines and thrusters go silent, as the ship falls through space at an immeasurable speed, what would that astronaut experience? What of their lover, who is on Earth, looking up at night wondering when they would be reunited? There has to be a sense of awe and fear in there… it’s everything I imagined during production, and the rest of it flowed organically.”
“Turn the lights off, close your eyes, free fall into the Dark Room, and look at the stars all around.”
APOLLO 89 is free to download on sinedrifter.com from 1 December 2020 to 1 April 2021. “We wanted to thank everyone who spent some time on sinedrifter.com,” explains Arjent, “by offering the free download for a few months. I hope y’all enjoy the experience!”