Dare to Step onto the Mothership with Tinediae

A master of that “80s futuristic, sci fi synth” sound returns with Mothership. Tineidae hit the Cryo Chamber roster hard in 2020 with Exo, one of my personal favorites to grace the label's discography page. Composer Pavlo Storonskyi is a master at layered synths, a true artisan when it comes to evoking imaginative soundscapes through textured sounds. Mothership is yet another science fiction journey, this time with a narrative on the youthful exhilaration and thrill of the journey, of that 1980’s VHS movie trope of actually stepping onto the entryway of an alien spacecraft and embarking on that fateful journey into the stars. To list the films would be moot and pointless, but to fail to mention Blade Runner, I would be remiss. 

The layers of synths that weave throughout this album have me smiling. To hear this, listeners from that 80s era will certainly be reminded of Vangelis and Tangerine Dream. Images of rain soaked futuristic cityscapes below the viewport of a spacecraft cascade through the mind; brief reminders of movies and stories from my childhood appear, all guided by the pointed direction in which Tineidae albums continually follow. The listener will be guided through the cascades of imaginative synthscapes at a seemingly capricious gait, but Storonskyi is always in control, and closer scrutiny of the tracks within the album reveal careful calculation to the sounds and textures; the exuberance of Klaus Schulze, but tampered with precision to the purpose of the atmosphere.

With only one month into the 2022 year, Cryo Chamber has released what will certainly be in “Best Of” categories in year end lists, and I cannot recommend this album enough. If you enjoyed Exo, you are going to love Mothership, and if you have not heard these wonderful albums, I encourage you to look them up. Mothership is available on the Cryo Chamber Bandcamp page in CD digipak and digital format.