Eyes Of The Moon by Seahawks
Glorious vibes with a dark undercurrent
For ten years British duo Seahawks (Jon Tye and Pete Fowler) have been making deep music inspired by the wonders of Earth and the cosmos beyond. On occasion they have drifted off into cheesy territory (like Aquadisco from 2012 where the cosmic vibes verge on kitsch) but on the whole have remained tasteful purveyors of sun-drenched Ambient mood music. Eyes Of The Moon is their 17th(?!) album and delivers a scintillating dispatch with a conceptual sting in the tail.
Field recordings, filtered synths, bar chimes and subtle percussive elements combine in a goal to facilitate listener transcendence - the lapping waves of opener Emergence certainly does that, along with the shimmering rhythm and smooth melody. And across the ten tracks, the continued use of natural sounds lends a transportive quality to the empyrean journey. Soaring, whooshing and glistening, we're floating from our blue planet to the Moon and back. Tye describes this:
Eyes Of The Moon relates to the idea of looking down from the moon and seeing the beauty of Earth... but also the madness and destruction we’re causing
Oh. Well, that's a game changer!
Once this realisation is drawn, it's difficult to appreciate this album as anything other than provocative and confrontational. This marriage of beautifully sweet music and the horror story that is how we live our lives today. A perpetual reminder that if, at any point while listening, you feel too comfortable with how you live your life, or how your individual contributions to life on Earth have no ill-effect on a global scale, it's like being woken from a deep sleep with Mother Earth's hands on your shoulders, gently shaking the complacency from your semi-conscious crapulence. Now that's powerful!
- Rating: 9/10
- Listens: 20
- Highlight: Over & Over
- Label: Cascine
- Release Date: 15th March 2019