Hydrosphere
£4.99 – £5.49
Product Description
Hydrosphere
As soon as the gentle opening sequences of ‘Ocean Bound’ hit their stride, you just know that this is going to be another classic offering from Divine Matrix. Few artists can conjure up atmosphere with such mood and feel as well as Steve Barnes can, and as a result, Hydrosphere is quite simply sensational!
The theme of the album is, unsurprisingly, water, and even though the tracks are all terrific individual musical statements, they also move effortlessly from one to the next and present a coherent ‘whole’ concept album.
The melodic themes are strong, sometimes carried along with gentle foot tapping rhythms, other times they drift along atop great sequences. Tracks like ‘Drifting on the Tide’ and ‘The Diving Bell’ are swept along amidst swirling pads and atmospherics. ‘Bermuda Triangle’ with it’s ‘mayday’ calling for help gives us a real sense of mystery and the unknown, while ‘Deep Blue’ is an awesomely beautiful, drifting piece of sequenced space music.
‘Hydrosphere’ is a superb, melodic electronic space music album with a strong contemporary feel. Oodles of different sounds and ideas permeate the mix from beginning to end and the production is first class. Steve Barnes has created yet another wonderfully evocative journey to the Stars. Destined to become a classic!
This album is available to download or as a factory pressed, replicated CD. Check out our FAQ page for more information.
1 review for Hydrosphere
Shipping Costs for CDs
Delivery costs are weight based….
UK 1st Class
- 1 CD £1.75
- 2 CDs £1.95
- 3 CDs £2.95
- 4 or more CDs £3.95
Europe and Ireland – 1st Class AirMail
- 1 CD £2.75
- 2 CDs £3.75
- 3 CDs £4.50
- 4 CDs £5.50
- 5 or more CDs £6.95
North and South America – 1st Class AirMail
- 1 CD £4.75
- 2 CDs £6.95
- 3 CDs £8.95
- 4 CDs £10.95
- 5 or more CDs £12.95
Rest of the World 1st Class Airmail
- 1 CD £4.75
- 2 CDs £5.95
- 3 CDs £7.75
- 4 CDs £8.75
- 5 or more CDs £9.95
Our ‘time to ship’ from the placing of your order is “immediate to 48 hours”, dependent only on whether you place your order on a weekday or at the weekend. We deliver anywhere in the world; usually 2-5 days in the UK, 5-10 days to Europe and 7-10 for the USA and the rest of the world.
Downloads
MP3 and Flac files are available for download immediately after payment. You will receive an email containing links to download the zip files.
If you have any issues downloading, please contact us and we’ll re-send the download links.
Note to iOS uses
Apple iOS up to and including iOS 8 won’t download zip files in Safari. The easiest way around this is to download the zip files onto a computer and then open the zip and transfer the tracks into iTunes (just drag the folder onto the iTunes icon in the dock). Then sync the iOS device to iTunes in the normal way.
Alternatively, there are apps in the Apple App store that will open zip files directly on your iOS device (iPhone/iPad).
Buy single tracks on iTunes
Chuck van Zyl/STAR’S END –
Listening to a CD by The Divine Matrix may entitle one to a credit or two from an institution of higher learning. Hydrosphere (71’31”) and his previous release Atmospheric Variations (2012) each represent Steve Barnes’s reverence for the Earth sciences – and is the perfect vehicle through which he may express this wonder. Hydrosphere forms 11 imaginary spaces which the listener co-habitates with the musician. Merging high-minded EM with the brevity of the pop music form Barnes realizes heat then thoughtful calm as sizzling synth phrases rush by only to be countered with interesting and emotionally inciting tonal contrasts. As much as Barnes loves the natural world he obviously also loves the wholly synthetic sounds produced by his synthesizers and computers. Using an impressive range of well-conceived and crafted synth sounds producing sonorant leads, consonant harmonies and glittering effects the sequencer patterns skip then saunter through lovely story cycles – the repetition of the rhythms bringing security while all the melodic variation makes us feel free. Along with the top-notch electronic sound design he also incorporates the acoustic sounds of guitar, piano, dolphins, surf, ship to shore radio clips and a science documentary lecturer for an ever-deepening sonic experience. From introspective vignettes to heroic anthems Hydrosphere provides an enjoyable, engaging listening experience – luscious, luxurious sea songs for the ocean inside.
Chuck van Zyl/STAR’S END 3 July 2014