Space Anomaly By Alan Hanslik

 

Space Anomaly

By

Alan Hanslik

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

I have always been a fan of the genre of space music, this flavour of electronics has always resonated with me and always will, to traverse the great galaxies within music like this is as close as I am ever going to get in my life time, so we are lucky today as we’re about to break orbit with a brand new album of this elk by composer Alan Hanslik entitled Space Anomaly.

Our first gaze into this musical cosmos is the title track and Space Anomaly, allows us to drift away from our star fix to enjoy an inventive and mystery filled opus on synths by the artist, this is indeed a superb scene setter and the longest track off the album at well over nine minutes long.

That sense of movement garnered by the last piece takes us into a new solar system of tone entitled Cosmic Swarm. This is a stylish offering, giving us a crafted performance on keyboards and synths in an almost peppered style, as a myriad of cosmic life forms swarm around our musical ship.

One of the most impressive offerings on the album in my view was this next track entitled Sleeping Giant. One with ease could visualise an old gas giant, a star that has lived for many eons and still struggles on. The deep resonance of the keyboards here, and the aged textures make this a truly magical offering, tinged with a little reflection as well.

Someone once said, and now it’s time for something completely different, and here it is, as this next piece gives us a whole new edge to the coin of what is known as electronic music. Swallowing Stars is a truly clever song; it has that crisp mechanical edge to it that makes it addictive to listen to, the imagination could with ease create a black hole of universal proportions.

The light-hearted and clever composition Planetary Playground is now upon us. There is indeed a playful energy in this stellar nursery of a track, the performance here indeed employs some forward thinking, as it manifests with clarity the birthing ground of stars and worlds through its almost percussive sounding arrangement.

One of my personal favourites off this album would be this next composition entitled Infant Stars. One could say it is a natural extension from the previous opus. I loved the performance here, a nice backdrop of sonic sound bathes and washes over the listener, whilst the infant stars begin to pop into the universe with all the energy and vigour that youth has.

Our journey has taken us to the very dark realm of deep space, and as we move with great care we come across an arrangement entitled Innerspace.  This has a great sense of movement and speed built into the composition, the synth effects were also really exciting too, and Hanslik’s crafted skill at producing such a clever form of art and space is felt here with such clarity.

Our last but one break from warp comes now as we drop out at a new realm, with an old energy entitled Dormant Galaxy. This penultimate offering is pure genius and one that I cannot stop playing, it offers a hovering sense of anticipation, mixed with in an almost spectral like mood, close your eyes and simply drift in this reality of a galaxy that stands on the very edge of time itself.

Before we land our craft we can gaze at the clouds of Cosmic Dust that swirl around us, these particles create a myriad of fractal shards of light as we turn our ship and prepare to land, the representation on this track and its presentation is idyllic, and of course redolent of the subject matter, as well as being a natural and calming way to leave the album.

Space Anomaly by Alan Hanslik is a wonderful work, created by an artist who clearly has a feel for space the universe and everything, his cultured efforts here are blissful to bathe with in. He retains moods created hence by the legends of space music like Serrie, Tomita and Kendle, and steps into his own power by manifesting a different view, a refreshing gaze into the infinite; a truly fine album that is easy to recommend indeed.