The Circular Ruins & Mystified — Fantastic Journey
Ambient collaborative release, Fantastic Journey, sees its eighth year anniversary bringing in a re-release on CD digipak, complete with a 10-minute bonus track. The duo consists of Mystified handling the background pieces and The Circular Ruins handling the foreground effects. Composed as a homage to early sci-fi pioneers like Jules Verne, H.G. Well, and Edgar Rice Burroughs (to name a few), the resulting tracks offer up a wondrous exploration of fantastic and new worlds. Both below the surface of our own and flying above those far distant, Fantastic Journey takes the listener on an intergalactic tour well worth the admission.
Exploring the vastness of undocumented and imaginary worlds can be a daunting task if not in the right hands. With The Circular Ruins and Mystified splitting the duties, each is given full reign over their sonic realm and allowed to work with the other half's material to make a wonderful whole. As this is a re-release and not part of the current crop of soundscapes, Fantastic Planet has a more grounded richness and fullness rather than the current trend toward more synthesized and robotic soundscapes. To this effect, something like "The Voyage Home" can be heard both as a spaceflight return or heading back to the surface after a subterranean journey. This duality of sound can only be expressed through two partners crafting layers and feelings on their own, with a thin, but the strong grip on what the overall vibe should be. The compositions on this album all follow suit, and the duo works together to constantly expand the sonic landscape they're presenting. Clocking in at over an hour with bonus track, there is a ton of beautiful, expressive sound art on display, and many new and vibrant worlds to explore.
The Circular Ruins & Mystified teamed up for 2013's Fantastic Planet, and Cold Spring gives this sonic gem a wonderful re-release on CD, complete with a bonus track. An excellent ambient album, Fantastic Planet is inspired by writers at the forefront of the sci-fi movement. These soundscapes wonderfully capture the imagination of the listener and place them into these fantastic, sci-fi inspired worlds.