{"id":6168,"date":"2023-11-14T15:50:01","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T15:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/?p=6168"},"modified":"2023-11-16T04:49:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T04:49:05","slug":"album-review-moonshot-1201_alarm-words-sammy-stein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/2023\/11\/14\/album-review-moonshot-1201_alarm-words-sammy-stein\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: &#8220;Moonshot&#8221; &#8211; 1201_Alarm. Words &#8211; Sammy Stein"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Moonshot-ARTWORK-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Moonshot-ARTWORK-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Moonshot-ARTWORK-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Moonshot-ARTWORK-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Moonshot-ARTWORK-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Moonshot-ARTWORK-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Moonshot-ARTWORK-435x435.jpg 435w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Moonshot-ARTWORK-60x60.jpg 60w, https:\/\/platinummind.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Moonshot-ARTWORK.jpg 1879w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/3o6Nc316Z0M1R8lUjEgsnI?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameBorder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n<p>120_Alarm comprises Steve Thompson (Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Nigel Kennedy, Robert Smith, Lisa Stansfield) on Electronics, Laser Harp and Keyboard, Tamar Osborn (Akram Khan, Collocutor, Kelis, Van Morrison, Billy Ocean) on saxophone and flute, Emma Bassett (Adele, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tim Minchin) on trombone, Alistair \u2018Titch\u2019 Walker (Divine Comedy, Doolally Tap) on trumpet, Ollie Weston (Amy Winehouse, Tim Minchin) on bass and Ben Handysides ( Hackney Colliery Band, Charlotte Keeffe) on drums.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>They find themselves in the unusual and enviable position of having their music uploaded into a rocket destined for the moon. As one who reviewed that recording (\u2018Hello_World\u2019, in 2020) I felt a shiver of delight as Steve Thomson from Alarm 1201 explained, \u201cYou may remember the last album was inspired by science and technology. Well, bizarrely, it has been loaded onto a spaceship, and is destined for the Moon! I kid you not!\u201d The album was loaded onto the payload of NASA\u2019s spacecraft, Peregrine Lander, and is set to launch in late 2023, marking the first album on the Moon. So shortly after you read this review, Alarm 1201\u2019s music could be being played on the moon. On this, the band\u2019s second album, all the music was written by Steve Thompson who leads the band and explores his passion for experimenting blending science and technology with a mix of jazz, electronica, classical, and rock music. It works beautifully because Thomson is a gifted musician when it comes to sound layering \u2013 as you can hear on the albums. 1201_Alarm was named after an incident that occurred on the Apollo 11 mission, so that might give you the level of Thomson\u2019s fascination with science, space, and sound.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The 1201_Alarm project started in 2016, when founding member Thompson began interviewing renowned scientists and experts, including the late James Randi, Dr Aleks Krotoski, Dr Helen Cerski, and Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Their first album offered themes based on each person interviewed. This album continues the inspiration from figures who have had a huge impact on science. One track features UK astronaut, Helen Sharman. Thomson comments, \u201cI was absolutely thrilled when Helen agreed to come to our studio in London and record. The track is very different from the others on the album &#8211; a brief respite from the loud, upbeat jazz. Helen\u2019s playing is calm and tranquil, how I imagined she felt in the MIR space station, gazing down on the Earth.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The album is a progression from \u2018Hello_World\u2019. From the ethereal \u2018Summer Bird\u2019 with radio audio of a space mission to the strange chill that creeps over \u2018Ozone 3\u2019, the album reveals many textures. On \u2018Summer Bird\u2019 the changing rhythm patterns, from gentle, laid back to thrumming, insistent, and urgent beats, enhance the sense of flight, the beautiful brass over flute section emphasizing a sense of emptiness beneath.<\/p>\n<p>\u20181202\u2019 is introduced by a strong percussive line, under which the bass enters, backed by electro-bop and a fantastically textured section of musical layering, using both conventional and electronic sounds. \u2018Gruitheisen Domes\u2019 is ethereal and features a theme, around which the rest of the musicians work. The Gruitheisen Domes are volcanic lunar features and underpinning the music is a sense of space, the power of what is beyond, and the call of the void. In the middle section, waves break under rhythmic beats creating that sense of two different worlds colliding.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Kelly Watch The Stars\u2019 features a central theme picked out, taken up, developed, and exchanged between the musicians, with the sax emerging to deliver a mesmeric solo deep diving from high to low registers with relish.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u2018Ozone 3\u2019 is light, gentle, and aptly named, as the music takes the listener high into the atmosphere, visualizing the clouds dispersing and the earth revealed beneath its protective blanket of ozone. The track features pianist and astronaut Helen Sharman CMG, OBE \u2013 the UK\u2019s first Astronaut in space. The title of the track comes from Sharman&#8217;s call sign during her week-long mission to the MIR space station in 1991.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>As well as Sharman on piano, who reveals herself to be an exceptional musician, the track features the Cape Town Philharmonic and a glorious flugelhorn solo from Titch Walker.\u00a0The track swells and falls, the strings of the orchestra sighing glorious melodies across the arrangements.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span> The repeated 8-note motif signals stability, while the changes in rhythms seem to indicate things are never what they seem. A beautiful and profoundly thought-provoking piece.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Chiller\u2019 is a beautiful bash of a number with chopped rhythms and glorious brass in harmony across the top. Another wonderful sax solo is featured and there are some deliciously glorious blasts from the trumpet.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u2018Moonwalk\u2019 is a bouncy, freely played number with some wonderful interplay between woodwind and brass, across a constant rhythm, creating a playful and uplifting sound while \u2018Set The Controls\u2019 features some majestic choral singing, a rocky rhythm, and forceful bass work before it settles into a well-worked harmonic number, featuring a blast-off sequence for Apollo 11. The layers of sound provided by the percussion in particular increase until there is such a sense of fire and energy, that the listener cannot but feel a sense of impending explosion. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The album is a wonderful intertwining of genres, soundscapes, and creative exploration of ideas, all created with a clear directional musicality and wonderfully textured harmonies.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The band will launch the album with a live performance at the Temple of Art and Music in Elephant and Castle on 14th November, for an evening of live music from both albums.<\/p>\n<p>For more info go here:<\/p>\n<p>All inquiries, high res images, and further information: Georgina Carter, Chlo\u00e9 Nelkin Consulting E: georgina@chloenelkinconsulting.com, T: 020 3627 2960 W: www.chloenelkinconsulting.com<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>120_Alarm comprises Steve Thompson (Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Nigel Kennedy, Robert Smith, Lisa Stansfield) on Electronics, Laser Harp and Keyboard, Tamar Osborn (Akram Khan, Collocutor, Kelis, Van Morrison, Billy Ocean) on saxophone and flute, Emma Bassett (Adele, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Tim Minchin) on trombone, Alistair \u2018Titch\u2019 Walker (Divine Comedy, Doolally Tap) on trumpet, Ollie Weston (Amy Winehouse, &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161,42,118,157,229,129,52,139,30,153,142,227,187,162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acoustic","category-band","category-bass","category-brass","category-composer","category-drums","category-guitar","category-jazz","category-music","category-percussion","category-producer","category-sammy-stein","category-saxophone","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6168"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6179,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168\/revisions\/6179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platinummind.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}