The Arrival - Prelude to the Ethereal

The Arrival

Prelude to the Ethereal
self-released; 2013

3.9 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

After listening to Prelude to the Ethereal by The Arrival aka Kevin  Gamble and Randall Breedlove it became obvious to me that he needs to contact Alex Grey and they need to collaborate on some next level multi-dimensional audio-visual experience. The music that Gamble makes at least mimics what most of us think about when we imagine what the universe sounds like and the artwork that Grey produces often brings into existence the energy that we often feel but can't see (it may be no coincidence the artwork for this album looks like work done by Grey).

The music here isn't a hyperbole of joy and majestic peace but instead sounds a lot more like you would think the cosmos to sound like. It’s dark, vast and often mysterious like a black hole and isn't overly concerned about pleasing you but simply showing you what’s there.

The album starts with a short title track that serves as a nice introduction to the rest of the album. It’s stoic, sounds infinite and is enjoyable because of the subtleties. “Prophetic Dream” is an ethereal song with a slight Persian vibe as lush pads of sounds appear then decay out of existence. It’s a sustained concoction of beautiful and haunting sounds including guitars, what sounds like orchestral strings and horns played from the heavens that beg you to listen to it at high volumes and with headphones. 

“Anhedonia” takes you a little more down the rabbit hole into more vast space while “Souls of the Aokigahara” sounded like I was standing in the engine room in some type of alien spacecraft. The album closes with “Vessels,” which combines a delayed guitar with interstellar debris from the crevices of your mind and sparse piano.

The most rewarding part of listening to this album is that it feels like an organic experience. With the guitar at the center of many of these compositions it feels like a natural extension of the world around us.