Indie Music Album Reviews

Celestial Navigation - From Afar

6/14/2021

Celestial Navigation

From Afar
self-released; 2021

4.0 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

Celestial Navigation is a band from Seattle, WA that recently released From Afar. We at Divide and Conquer reviewed the band's previous release Cosmic Journey and they sort of continue on a similar trajectory on this release. As their name suggests the band does have a tendency to feel cosmic but not necessarily in a Pink Floyd type of way. It’s a little more jazz and classical influenced to my ears.

There are some great songs on this album starting with the opener “Press Home.” It’s one of the more single-worthy songs and just has some very catchy vocal melodies. That being said, it's more than just catchy. It’s experimental, deep and dynamic from the marching drums to the orchestral strings.

The jazzy “Winter Solstice” is fantastic. There are hushed vocals, dark tones and some really well played instruments. I loved the album from beginning to end but there are some highlights in the batch to my ears.

“Sevgi” is arguably the best song on the album. It’s a perfect mix of emotive vocals and music that drives it along. The vocals are covered in reverb and delay which I’m not always a fan of but in this case it worked. It felt like remaining thoughts in your head. The best part of the song is how it expands and, in particular, the chorus which changes the emotive energy but not too far away.

The drums on “Passcode” are worth it alone but the whole song is exceptional. I’m a Zappa fan so “Zappa’s Revenge” was a treat even though I wouldn’t mistake it for Frank. The moonlit jazz closer “Fourth of July (feat. Gökhan Somel)” felt like a good way to end.

This album was great and my favorite release from the band. They brought their A game and the sound was more realized than ever. Recommended.