Theme — Meditations on Space, Volume One

Theme started off in the late 90s, as a spin-off from UK noise rock collective Splintered, with a mind to do less rock-focused sound, and instead hone in on textures, drones, and abstract sounds. Meditations on Space, Volume One is the project's seventh album, and the first volume in a two-part set. It consists of one piece of music (lasting around 40 minutes) which is broken into seven parts. If I were to compare the album to anything, I’d say Michael Gira’s The Body Lover’s project. As it engagingly shifts from pared-back psycho ambience, to more detailed looping & droning material, onto denser and more dramatic work, all making for a rewardingly varied sonic trip. 

The album comes in the form of a digipak CD, featuring a grey & inverted photo collage, which is rather abstract/ unclear. To my eyes, I’m seeing a blend of a satellite disc, a UFO, a spoon, and maybe a leaf. The release is limited to three hundred copies

The project is a two-piece made up of Richard Johnson (aka Richo, also of Fourth Dimension Records and Lumberton Trading Company, plus Adverse Effect writer and publisher of Grim Humour), and Stuart Carter (Scalpt, Heroin, The Fields of Hay). With additional contributions from Zsolt Sores, Hiroshimabend, Emma Lynch and Michal Wojciechowski.

The album opens with “Part One: Blood Paralysis” This starts with a skeletal mix of bass-bound electro tone chop and an eerily jingling reverb. As things open up, layers of creepy bird chatter and rain fall field recordings are added, with the bass element becoming more hazed/ stabbing, and jingling tone darting here 'n’ there.

As we move on, we come to “Part three: A New Way Of Life”-  here we find an effectively unbalancing mix of choppy/ interlocking loops, weird cut-up vocal barks, atmospheric string strumming, and warbling ‘n’ building drone hover.

As we go towards the end of the album, we have the jarring to hazing “Part Six: Street Prophet(Nature Of Existence”- which shifts from blend electro tone chop ‘n’ streach, a distant ranted voice, and sampled churning/ ringing guitar elements. Onto banks of swirling noise ambience, weird chatters/ vocal bays, and hazed industrial loops.

So, Meditations on Space, Volume One is an eventful and often rewardingly creative journey into shifting and morphing soundscaping. I’m looking forward to hearing Vol two.