WILLIAM EDGE

Beyond the Edge: Into Infinity

Sounds Blue Music (2004)

revuew by Bill Binkelman

This is the third and final installment in a science fiction-themed musical trilogy from EM/ambient artist William Edge. The story arc involves the discovery of faster-than-light travel and an ensuing journey of exploration to the edge of the known universe. On the previous "chapter," Edge of the Universe: Discovery, the artist used a combination of cyber-chill out, retro-futuristic lounge, and more conventional spacemusic and EM. On this, the conclusion of the saga, the lounge/cyber-jazz elements that I loved on the earlier recordings are mostly gone, replaced by a more spacy and overt EM overall approach, although much of the instrumentation and keyboard samples are identical, so that musical cohesion (from earlier recordings) is maintained.

Trying to pigeon-hole this album proves problematic, as there are elements of retro synth music, contemporary electronica, pure spacemusic, and other soundscapes that defy categorization. However, this is not because the music is inaccessible or "too" abstract, but rather it reflects the artist's commitment to "genre-smashing" (as in "atom-smashing") where he allows disparate elements to collide and then stands back to see what happened.

Overall, the feel of the thirteen tracks is spacy, to be sure. There are synth washes and tones galore and guitar notes (sampled or real, I can't tell) that are reverbed to the max, plus lots of retro/analog-sounding EM touches. Some song titles give solid indication of the SF influence throughout the album ("Dark Matter," "Unfolding Sphere") while others hint at the quasi-spiritual nature of the trilogy's thematic conclusion ("Trinity," "Voice of Time," "Destination of Prayers"). Mood-wise, things can be dark, such as on the distorted vocal rumblings and panned keyboards of "Dark Matter" or warmer (yet somewhat sad) such as on the retro EM of "Unfolding Sphere" which counterpoints gentle bell tones (one of Edge's characteristic sounds I alluded to earlier) against an assortment of reverse tape-loops, chattering sequenced notes, and soaring synths. "Dance of Lost Souls" merges more retro EM effects with pulsing tones and bells in a mixture of new age and EM genres. "No Dimension" has a stronger typical spacemusic sound to it with broad soaring washes of dramatic keyboards, but even here the music is still peppered with active EM bloops, bleeps, and many SF-type colorings.

Later in the album, as the saga starts to reach its climax, the music veers into a even more cosmic yet spiritual Constance Demby territory, with the presence of majestic synth chorales on "Trinity" and a solitary vocal sample on "Levels of Consciousness - Awakening." It's easy to "feel" the music match the story, as the story's hero reaches his destination and confronts a deep mystery unfolding before him and the music takes on a mystical and even comforting aspect ("Voice of Time"). The final song, "Destination of Prayers," features a narrative denouement (lyrics are in the liner notes) and further underscores the spirituality of the story's ending, accompanied by more chorales and flowing melodic EM elements.

In the end, being a science fiction and spacemusic fan, I enjoyed the album and found it to be a satisfying final chapter to the trilogy. Since this is neither Berlin school EM, true chill-out, classic spacemusic nor contemporary electronica, it's hard to know who to recommend this CD to. Hopefully, there is an audience out there for concept works such as this. The album definitely works better as a direct listening experience than played as ambient coloring in the background. Whether the juxtaposition of the relative abstract nature of the music combined by user-friendly instrumentation (really all that's here are a lot of synths - no glitch, laptop, or experimentation) will alienate listeners or enthrall them, only time will tell. Beyond the Edge: Into Infinity represents the culmination of a musical vision from William Edge that has spanned three albums. He is to be commended for his perseverance and his imaginative compositions. Armchair outer space voyagers hungry for something outside the normal planetarium or ambient soundscapes should check this out. On a final note, from a production and engineering standpoint, Edge continued to improve with this release, which is his best (technically) so far.