KMXT FreeForm Radio

30 June 2026: Huis "Despite Guardian Angels"; "Night Falls: Music Inspired by David Lynch's Twin Peaks"

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Huis biography
Founded in Québec, Canada in 2009

Huis ("home doors" in french, and "house" in dutch) is a five member musical project from Québec officially formed by Pascal LAPIERRE (keyboards) and Michel JONCAS (bass) at the end of 2009, after an oustanding and inspiring trip in the Netherlands.

At that time, they decided to put on tape (read hard drive!) some ideas they had in mind since a long time. Over time, three other talented musicians, William REGNIER (drums), Sylvain DESCOTEAUX (vocals) and Michel ST-PERE, this last musician from the band MYSTERY (guitars) joined the band, each one bringing a special touch to Huis' sound.

The music is a well crafted progressive rock with a symphonic touch and the use of Hammond, Moog and Mellotron takes us back to the old prog rock sound of the 70's. The guitar playing of St-Pere brings a big influence of the Neo-Prog band MYSTERY and many others Neo-Prog bands that put the melody and vocals upfront with strong compositions skills. The band has released is first studio album in January 2014, " Despite Guardian Angels".

Reviewed by Marc on 30 Jan 2014

First album from this Canadian Neo Prog band. Huis is made up of french speaking Canadians, but listening to Sylvain Descôteaux on lead vocals, this band could easily pass for a Manchester or Liverpool based group.

The most well known (at least to me) member of Huis is Michel St-Père, leader of Mystery, a band that has a gained an international reputation, partly because of ex-Yes Benoit David on lead vocals. Because of that, there are some excellent guitars to be heard on Despite Guardian Angels, but this is certainly not the only positive point of this excellent CD. Pascal Lapierre on keyboards also takes on a prominent role, having a constant presence in the music and offering a number of interesting solos. The rythm section (i.e. Michel Joncas and William Régner) is impeccable and Descôteaux's vocals are just great, his powerfull yet very melodic voice being better than the great majority of lead singers of today's most well known Neo Prog bands.

The compositions on Despite Guardian Angels are all very good, very symphonic in nature, alternating powerfull pieces with more melodic and emotional ones. If I were to pick a band as an acceptable reference, it would be late 90's or early 00's Arena, and Despite Guardian Angels compares easily with their best CDs.

Those wanting to hear some great Neo Prog should certainly seek out this new album by Huis. In my humble opinion, Despite Guardian Angels is one of the best Neo Prog album to come out in quite a while. Don't miss it.

My highest recommendation indeed.

Night Falls is a literary anthology inspired by the universe of Twin Peaks, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The book brings together eight original short stories that explore the emotional, symbolic, and metaphysical territory it has carved into the collective imagination. At the heart of Twin Peaks lies a fragile balance between familiarity and unease, between everyday rituals and the presence of something deeply unsettling beneath the surface. Night Falls embraces this tension, moving through small towns, isolated landscapes, domestic interiors, dreams, and thresholds where reality begins to fracture. The writers approach Twin Peaks as a condition of perception. Their stories resonate with themes that have long defined the work of Lynch and Frost: duality, hidden violence, trauma, the instability of time, and the uneasy coexistence of innocence and corruption. Some narratives lean toward psychological introspection, others toward the uncanny or the metaphysical, yet all share a sensitivity to atmosphere, rhythm, and suggestion rather than explanation. Night Falls extend the resonance of Twin Peaks into new and independent fictional forms. It invites the reader to remain within ambiguity, to accept disorientation, and to listen carefully to what emerges when the lights fade and the night begins to speak.

Stories by: J. Edwin Buja, Michael F. Housel, Chris McAuley, Nora B. Peevy, RDJ Armstrong, Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq, Erica Ruppert, Can Wiggins.

Curated by Raffaele Pezzella
Edited by Chris McAuley

This compilation continues a path that Unexplained Sounds Group has been developing over time, following the earlier CD project inspired by Eraserhead. While that release focused on the cinematic origins of David Lynch’s language, this new work turns its attention to Twin Peaks, the television series created by Lynch and Mark Frost that profoundly reshaped the relationship between narrative, sound and perception on the small screen. First broadcast in 1990, Twin Peaks initially aired for two seasons between 1990 and 1991, before returning in 2017 with a third season that radically redefined the boundaries of television storytelling. From the outset, the series introduced an unprecedented fusion of crime drama, soap opera, surrealism and metaphysical horror, filtered through Lynch’s authorial vision as director and Frost’s narrative architecture. What began as an apparently familiar small-town mystery gradually evolved into an increasingly unstable universe, dissolving linear narration and pushing television into territories that were previously unthinkable. Across its three seasons, Twin Peaks expanded into a complex exploration of dreams, alternate realities, fragmented identities and temporal dislocation, transforming the medium of television into a space for long-form experimentation and subconscious... more

credits

released June 18, 2026

REVIEWS

Bad Alchemy
Unexplained Sounds Group – Eighth Tower Records (Naples)
With Night Falls. Music Inspired by David Lynch's Twin Peaks (USG117), Raffaele Pezzella deepens the reverence for the thrill of David Lynch's fantastical cinema already demonstrated with The Eraserhead (USG110). Five of the fellow devotees were already involved the first time around: Craig Varian, with 400 Lonely Things as "Dark New Age for the New Dark Age" and his hauntological fondness for the Green Man and for Thoreau, lets 'Butterfly' drift through melancholic guitar loops. Kabra darkens the Red Room with 'Black Soil' and lets a Haunted Ballroom and Skull Island echo through the walls. Mark Hjorthoy in Vancouver, together with David Strother in Olympia, WA, sets 'A Rabbit In The Moon' spinning with trembling guitar strings. Oubys, the USG-seasoned Wannes Wolf in Hasselt, lays mournfully plucked flowers on the grave of Julee Cruise (1956–2022) with 'For Julee'. And Richard Bégin — the professor of Media & Film Studies in Montreal, fascinated by H.R. Giger, William Gibson, Philip K. Dick, ESP and Gysin's Dreamachine, and a perennial USG guest — offers 'Dale Cooper's Doppelgänger', humming, distorted and sorrowful. Joel Gilardini, the drone-loving, doomsterish guitarist in Zurich, already a fellow reader of J.G. Ballard and Neuromancer and a contributor to tributes to Dario Argento and Dreamachine, is now also Lynched with 'Traces to Nowhere'. David Kovacs, a Hungarian between fog and facts, between night and dawn, unsettles and seduces on 'Dreaming in a Grey Lodge' with knocking sounds, bass strokes, and dreamlike guitar tones. Mario Lino Stancati, the éminence grise of USG and Eighth Tower, ranging from Burroughs, Cronenberg, Dante, Dracula, Fulci, Hellraiser to Lovecraft, Poe and Tarkovsky, is naturally here too, with 'Fire Walks Through Wires' — demonic yet with thundersheet irony. Paolo L. Bandera (of Sshe Retina Stimulants), another node in Pezzella's network, has infernally orchestrated 'Agente Atomico Episodico' as a ghost-train revue with gurgling voices. Yousef Kawar, oscillating in New York between guitar rock and dark ambient, tilts once more toward the dark side with 'Whispers in the Black Lodge'. Rapoon takes us with 'Snoqualmie Falls' to the original locations in Washington, elegiacally stirring strings and keys. Zuleika AvTes, who came from Brazil to London, shows as Glass Isle — with her whispers and stippling on 'Haze' — that Lynch fascinates women too, as of course he does. Pierre Laplace in Lille, once singer-guitarist in Vera Clouzot (with Peter Orins on drums), then the male half of The Sandman's Orchestra and finally alone as Beyond the Ghost, draws 'The Velvet Curtain' closed with billowing strings, reverberant piano tones, glockenspiel, and a frail JazzNoir trumpet.
badalchemy.de

Weird Bones
The real triumph of ‘Night Falls’ is that it doesn’t pretend to offer clarity. Each artist approaches the material like someone walking into a room where the lights keep changing colour – you adjust, you squint, you shrug, you keep going. The compilation honours the series by refusing to sand down its edges or explain its logic. It just lets the unease breathe.
weirdbones.co.uk/a-bit-peaky-twin-peaks-reimagined/

Bizzarrechats
bizarrechats.blogspot.com/2026/06/eighth-towers-night-falls-music.html
bizarrechats.blogspot.com/2026/06/eighth-towers-night-falls-stories.html

Our thanks to Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst) for a complimentary copy of this release.
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella.
Layout by Matteo Mariano.
Published by Unexplained Sounds Group
Cat. Num. USG117
© 2026 All rights reserved

experimental ambient ambient music avant-garde drone improvisation musique concrete sound art Italy

Unexplained Sounds Group Italy

Global Network Of Aural Disorientation founded and curated by Raffaele Pezzella

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23 June 2026: Yes "Aurora"; Parallel Worlds "Explorer"

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Aurora is the twenty-fourth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes, released on 12 June 2026 by InsideOut Music and Sony Music.

Yes started work on the album shortly after the release of Mirror to the Sky in May 2023. As with the band's immediate preceding albums, guitarist Steve Howe resumed his role as producer, and orchestral arrangements were provided. Unlike the last two albums, the orchestral parts of the album were provided by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. The album was released on CD, LP, Blu-ray, and digital platforms, with some editions containing additional artwork by long-time Yes cover artist Roger Dean.^[3]

Review of the new YES album ‘Aurora’ out on June 12th, 2026

by Geoff Bailie

After 58 years, 24 studio albums, and a catalogue that helped define progressive rock, how should we approach a new album by Yes? The 2025 USA Fragile Tour programme described Yes as a band who “constantly evolve and create a sound unlike anyone else’s”, with each member bringing “exceptional skill and a distinctive style to the shared vision”. So does Aurora deliver against that definition?

The current – and now longest-standing – line-up has barely paused for breath since the release of The Quest in late 2021. Mirror to the Sky followed in 2023, with Jay Schellen stepping fully into the drum role after the passing of Alan White, and many fans felt that album represented another step forward. All the while, the band toured the world performing classic Yes albums, deep cuts, and newer material with real conviction. And so to Aurora, the third Yes studio album released through Inside Out Music – and, for me, the strongest album of the Jon Davison era so far.

What sets Aurora apart is that it finally sounds like a fully unified band rather than a collection of exceptional musicians preserving a legacy. The last two albums certainly had strong moments, but perhaps felt a little cautious. Here there’s a greater willingness to embrace contrasting moods and unexpected musical turns, while still sounding unmistakably like Yes. Add to that a rhythm section that feels genuinely locked in, Geoff Downes’ keyboards pushed much further forward in the mix, and the increasingly rich vocal blend developing between Jon Davison, Steve Howe, and Billy Sherwood, and you have an album with far more personality and confidence.

When we spoke to Jon Davison recently, he attributed some of that evolution to the way this album was created. Mirror to the Sky had begun while Alan White was still alive, with Jay Schellen joining partway through the process. Aurora, by contrast, was shaped by all five members from start to finish — and you can hear the difference.

The album opens magnificently. Downes’ piano, joined by Paul K Joyce’s orchestration, creates a cinematic opening that genuinely feels like the start of an event. If you ever wanted a Yes intro tape for a live show, surely this is it! Repeated listens reveal recurring motifs and clever musical callbacks throughout the opening title track, along with an impressive variety of keyboard and guitar textures. The arrangement keeps evolving without ever losing momentum.

Then comes “Turnaround Situation,” which captures the “complex simplicity” that has always sat at the heart of great Yes music. Strong harmonies, Hammond organ, and Howe’s signature guitar riffing suddenly give way to one of the album’s first genuinely surprising moments: Steve delivers a beautifully loose jazz-style solo, but played on nylon-string guitar. It’s completely unexpected and absolutely right for the song. The middle section – piano, slide steel guitar, and a quietly superb rhythm section underneath – is another reminder of how well this line-up now functions as an ensemble.

“Love Lies Dreaming” shifts the mood again. Sherwood’s bass work in the introduction is excellent, and the song provides one of the album’s more reflective moments without losing the richness of the arrangements around it. One of the album’s biggest strengths is the sheer variety of sounds it contains. Acoustic guitars, layers of keyboards, orchestration, unusual guitar tones – all of it feels carefully considered without becoming over-produced. The mix is particularly impressive, giving every instrument space while still preserving the density that makes Yes music feel immersive.

Of course, many prog fans will head straight for the epic “Countermovement,” perhaps hoping for “Close to the Edge Part 2.” Thankfully, that’s not what this is! Structurally, the closest comparison is probably Abbey Road Side Two: a sequence of interconnected musical ideas flowing naturally into one another rather than a single recurring thematic framework. That approach suits the piece perfectly. Howe’s delicate opening vocal in the Anytime Soon section is one of the album’s most unexpectedly moving moments, before the Blink Of An Eye section built around identity and artificial intelligence (the “in the blink of AI” lyric genuinely made me smile) brings a contemporary edge without sounding forced. Schellen and Sherwood deliver a strong instrumental detour and the track closes with a beautifully understated a cappella reprise that lingers long after the song ends.

“Ariadne” takes another left turn entirely, drawing on Greek mythology without becoming overly literal in its storytelling. The atmosphere here is superb. Strings, layered vocals, strange guitar textures, and some particularly strong vocal work from Billy Sherwood create one of the album’s most cinematic tracks. This is also where the production really shines: lavish and detailed, occasionally over-the-top, but always in service of the music rather than simply showing off!

Then comes perhaps the album’s biggest surprise. “All Hands On Deck” opens with one of the heaviest guitar riffs heard on a Yes album in years – when Hammond organ is added, it’s almost a modern day Deep Purple-style sound initially. Davison sings much of the track in a lower than normal register, reinforcing how far beyond simply “sounding like Jon Anderson” his role in the band has evolved. Howe’s lead vocal in the chorus works brilliantly, especially when paired with Davison’s responses, while Downes contributes clever keyboard interjections, sympathetic to the organic sound of this track. One major takeaway from Aurora overall is how much more present Geoff feels within the arrangements. The long-established working relationship between Howe and Downes now seems fully settled in the modern Yes context; both players understand exactly where their sounds complement rather than compete with one another.

The album’s instrumental-with-vocals piece, “Outside The Box,” is another genuinely unusual moment in the Yes catalogue. Beginning as a delicate acoustic guitar composition accompanied by layered “la la la” vocals that somehow evoke both Leave It and medieval choral music, the track gradually expands into something stranger and far more atmospheric. Drums, bass, electric guitar textures, and ambient soundscapes slowly emerge around it. It’s adventurous, slightly eccentric, and exactly the sort of risk a band at this stage of its career could easily avoid taking – but they took it, and I’m glad they did!

The closing track, “Emotional Intelligence,” strips things back again. Built around piano and a strong central melody, it highlights Davison’s growing importance to the band not only as a vocalist but as a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. There’s a confidence to his writing throughout Aurora that feels notably stronger than on previous albums.

The bonus tracks continue the unusually high standard. “Jambustin’” provides a lighter change of pace, while “Watching The River Roll” feels far too substantial to be dismissed as a bonus. Howe’s Portuguese guitar, Sherwood’s vocal, and the flowing arrangement briefly hint at “Your Move” territory before moving somewhere entirely its own. The keyboard and guitar interplay here is especially effective.

I’m not sure any of us entirely know what we expect from a new Yes album in 2026 – perhaps the band itself doesn’t either. But Aurora succeeds because it doesn’t try to recreate the past and instead focuses on what this version of Yes uniquely does well. The dynamics, diversity, musicianship, and sheer confidence on display throughout these 60 minutes reveal a band that is still creatively alive, still evolving, and still capable of taking listeners somewhere unexpected.

And ultimately, that feels completely true to the description from the Fragile tour programme: “exceptional skill and a distinctive style brought to a shared vision”. Aurora doesn’t simply remind us what Yes once were; it makes a convincing case for what they still can be.

Parallel Worlds - Explorer

released June 19, 2026

All tracks composed, arranged and produced by Bakis Sirros during 2025.
Thanks to: friends and family, John Sirros, Alessandro Vaccaro, Lorenzo Montana, Mamonu, Ingo Zobel, Dimitris Pavlidis, Angelos Ioakimoglou, Andreas Vamvakaris.
Mastered by Lorenzo Montana’
Cover design by LoMo
Machines used:
Eurorack modular (including modules by Qu-Bit, Synthesis Technology, Make Noise, Instruo, Xaoc Devices, Frap Tools, Doepfer, 4ms company, Noise Engineering, Buchla Tiptop Audio, Befaco, Neuzeit, Strymon, Steady State Fate, Cosmotronic, Hexinverter, Industrial Music Electronics, Endorphin.es, Behringer and others), Analogue Systems RS-Integrator modular, Roland System-8, korg Prologue, Wavestate, Opsix, SQ64, MS2000R, ASM Hydrasynth, Novation Peak, Kodamo EssenceFM mk2, Yamaha TG77, Waldorf Microwave, Behringer Model-D.
link: facebook.com/parallelworldsmusic

analogue electronic idm modular ambient electro idm techno Italy

16 June 2026: Jon Andersen, "Olias of Sunhillow"; The Fellowship, "In Elven Lands - First Edition"

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We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio

I am also hosting Rural Electric, so tune in for some great country music from 7-9 before FreeForm!

Olias of Sunhillow is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Jon Anderson, released in the United Kingdom on 9 July 1976 by Atlantic Records.^[3] When the progressive rock band Yes took a break in activity in August 1975 for each member to record a solo album, Anderson, having established himself as their frontman, decided upon a concept album that tells the story of four tribes of an alien race and their journey to a new planet after their home is threatened by a volcanic eruption. Olias, a magician, builds a spacecraft named the Moorglade Mover and is helped by fellow magicians Ranyart and Qoquaq to gather and carry the population to their new home.

The album was recorded using a mobile studio situated at Anderson's country home in Seer Green, Buckinghamshire, with himself as the sole producer and Mike Dunne as the engineer. Musically, the album features elements of progressive rock with psychedelic folk, experimental electronics, and world music, and features Anderson playing every instrument, which includes a variety of keyboards, guitars, and percussion. The track "Ocean Song" was performed live at select shows during Yes's 1976 North American tour.

Olias of Sunhillow peaked at number eight on the UK Album Charts, the best performing chart position of the solo albums released by the band at the time. It reached number forty-seven on the US Billboard 200. The album received generally favourable reviews from music critics, and was reissued in 2021 with a remastered stereo mix, from which a 5.1 surround sound mix was created. Since 2000, Anderson has been working on music for a sequel album entitled The Songs of Zamran: Son of Olias, which centres around the creation of Earth's structure

Paul Stump's 1997 History of Progressive Rock called the album "probably the most complete manifesto to Progressive ideology (infinitely more so than [Tales from] Topographic [Oceans])." Stump praised the album's divergence from the normally accepted practices and language of mainstream rock, while noting that it is also very accessible to a mainstream rock audience.^[17] In AllMusic, Dave Connolly concluded "the idea may seem overly ambitious, but Anderson fills the record with enough magical moments to delight fans of Yes' mystic side... at no point does the music lose its spellbinding effect for lack of sonic detail. Olias of Sunhillow is faithful to the spirit of Yes, though decidedly more airy than that band's visceral style ... Olias of Sunhillow is not the missing Yes album some might hope it to be, though it does prefigure the later Jon & Vangelis collaborations of the '80s."^[18] Writing on his own Progrography website, Connolly has also commented that "it's not a stretch to say that Olias of Sunhillow looks and sounds like [Roger] Dean's previous Yes artwork come to life. Since Anderson himself handles all the instruments, the album is an airier affair than Yes, and yet at the heart of these songs is the same captivating, intoxicating core that the singer brought to that band.... Olias of Sunhillow is the one Anderson album most likely to please Yes fans, immersed as it is in their mystical aura. It's also a gorgeously packaged product (in LP form, anyway), which helps set the mood immeasurably."^[19]

5 stars "In Elven Lands... a musicological reconstruction inspired by the myths, poetry, and linguistic works of Professor J.R.R. Tolkien," reads the first page of the liner notes, after opening the case past mediaeval-style elvish poems.

In Elven Lands accomplishes it's goal more fully than many similar attempts do- to re-create the spirit of Middle-Earth. Some adaptions, like Blind Guardian's Nightfall in Middle Earth are excellent albums, but they don't seem to naturally flow with the true mood of Arda. To successfully transport the listener into another world, the musicians in The Fellowship (all 12 of them) use both modern and ancient instruments in a very traditional, non-prog rock manner.

Although every track does construct the Middle-Earth spirit, many of them fluctuate drastically in scope and mood. For example, the second track, Dan Barliman's Jig, is a humorous ditty while the next track, The Silver Bowl, is much more somber and bare. Several of the tracks are sung in elvish, ranging from the celestial Verse to Elbereth Gilthoniel to the warm Elechoi. The Liner notes are phenomenal because they not only present the lyrics in Elvish and English, but also an explanation of why each track is included on the album.

Other tracks like Oromë: Lord Of The Hunt, featuring a slow climax of brass instruments, are instrumental compositions. The absolute highlight, however, is The Sacred Stones sung by Jon Anderson. The lyrics, in true Jon fashion, paint a picture; they manifest the whole mood of the album delicately and beautifully. The golden peacefulness, yet limitless power, that ripples beneath the surface is simply incredible. "We're given heaven each and every day," Jon proclaims. He uses the powerful story of Morgoth's banishment and the recovery of the Silmarils to meditate on pure universal truth...

Next on the album is a haunting re-arrangement of Led Zeppelin's Battle of Evermore, and then a few other tracks that continue to show variance and originality between themselves.

In Elven Lands is essential for any fan of Tolkien. Even if the listener isn't a die-hard fan, though, he can still draw incredible enjoyment from this journey and experience a remarkable album, seemingly pulled from another age.

Rating: 9/10

02 June 2026: Markus Reuter "Blind Architectures"; Ian Boddy & Markus Reuter "Distant Rituals" (Ambient Mix); Variant "While the Universe Sleeps" QD50

Be sure to follow KMXT FreeForm Radio on Facebook and Bandcamp and Spotify.

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The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites. (links below)

We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio

I am also hosting Rural Electric, so tune in for some great country music from 7-9 before FreeForm!

Blind Architectures - Markus Reuter

These ambient miniatures were born over two days in May 2026, serving as both a sonic laboratory and a foundational exploration for an upcoming recording session. The guiding principle behind these sessions was the creation of atmosphere through intentional obscuration.

By routing the touch guitar through a heavily altered signal chain, incorporating a new array of effects pedals, deliberate distortion, and manipulated noise floors, the goal was to render sonic environments that evoke distinct "rainscapes" and "cityscapes."

The defining methodology of this collection is the "blind" recording process. The initial improvisations and textures were tracked entirely without monitoring, the faders pulled completely down. The act of composition then became an act of excavation. The music only revealed itself in the final stage, pushing the faders up to make the invisible architectures suddenly, and sometimes startlingly, visible.

The resulting pieces are brief, concentrated vignettes, averaging two to three minutes in length, capturing the exact moment a hidden landscape comes into focus.

credits

released May 21, 2026

Recorded: May 18–19, 2026
Instrumentation: 8-string Touch Guitar, Effects, Faders
Player and composer: Markus Reuter

ambient classical experimental modern jazz Berlin

Distant Rituals (Ambient Mix)

Markus Reuter & Ian Boddy

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Join now to receive all the new music Markus Reuter creates, including 50 back-catalog releases, delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android. You’ll also get access to supporter-only exclusives like this album. Learn more.

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Distant Rituals (Ambient Mix) 36:50

about

Remix produced by Ian Boddy in 2025. The album was originally released in 2000. You can find the original album here:
dinrecords.bandcamp.com/album/distant-rituals-din2

credits

released May 21, 2026

Variant - While the Universe Sleeps

For the fiftieth release in the series, Quiet Details is thrilled to share an extended-length interpretation from a foundational figure in the electronic music world, the Detroit-based Stephen Hitchell, here as variant with while the universe sleeps.

Describing the importance of Stephen’s contribution to electronic music is a huge task - born out of the visionary axis between Detroit, Chicago and Berlin, he built on structures laid by those before him to create a universe of vast depth and sonic beauty. Along with many collaborators, his label echospace [detroit] became a home for forwarding-thinking dub-spirited music.

This, and numerous releases on other labels, including the seminal The Coldest Season on Modern Love with regular partner Rod Modell, and ground-breaking live performances everywhere from Berghain to Movement, made Stephen indivisible from any conversation of the most important artists of our time.

Under the guise of variant, we might find Stephen at his deepest, as he puts it:
"score the constellation of mystical events occurring in the depths of space”

With while the universe sleeps, he has achieved something remarkable. As with all the variant music, Stephen takes influence from the vast recesses of the cosmos, both imaginatively and sonically.

Drawing on NASA’s sound archive, “the vast echoes of space have been manipulated and resynthesized throughout the duration of this sonic experience.”

Through decades of dedication to his craft, Stephen has become a producer of almost unparalleled skill - all seen through the lens of formative years immersed in the inception and evolution of techno, house, ambient and countless detours.

All this is brought to bear on while the universe sleeps - a truly masterful deep-space voyage, eighty minutes submerged in cathartic waves of interstellar bliss.

Infinitely spacious - echoing chords and endlessly sustaining pads establish an emotional core, surrounded by highly-processed astral transmissions and organic analogue noise. Always underpinned by sub-bass reminiscent of the lowest frequencies emanating from the studios of Jamiaca, that are also of massive significance to Stephen’s work.

Huge thanks to Stephen, an incredible addition to the series.

The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album - originating from a photo from Stephen which was then captured with analogue photography and processed here at quiet details studios.

As usual, the album is presented on the physical edition, a custom six-panel digipack with a separate fine art print too.

The CD also has a special long-form continuous mix of the album, unique and representing the music in its purest form.

From Stephen:
written and produced by variant in ann arbor, mi. [2020-2025]
additional modular synthesis provided by antiquemodulations, detroit, mi. usa.

mixdown and premastering by alex gold. mastered by stephen hitchell in echospace.

thanks to: alex gold, chris federsen, gerard hanson, martin, richard, jimmy, kevin martin, rod modell, sam valenti, steve barker, tomoko and family at disk union and everyone around the world supporting this sonic art.

Credits:
Music by variant
Mastered by Stephen Hitchell in Echospace and Alex at quiet details studios

26 May 2026: An Evening with Andrew Latimer

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You can now listen to the livestream of the show through the KMXT app; it's available through the Mac App Store or Google Play. The stream is also available at www.kmxt.org

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The music you hear on tonight's show is available on the artists' Bandcamp pages and websites. (links below)

We urge you to support the musicians you hear on FreeForm Radio

This evening we dedicate our show to Andrew Latimer, the guitar virtuoso best known for his work with Camel, the well know progressive rock group that incorporated jazz and a bit of pop into later releases. You've heard Mirage and Harbor of Tears here on FreeForm in the past; tonight we spotlight his recent Bandcamp releases on which he plays all of the instruments except where noted.

Andrew Latimer (born 17 May 1949^[1]^[2]) is an English musician and composer. He is a founding member of the progressive rock band Camel and the only member who has been with them since their formation in 1971. Although he is best known as a guitarist and singer, Latimer is also a flautist and keyboardist.^[3

Progressive rock guitarists such as Steve Rothery (Marillion),^[7] Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth),^[8] Bryan Josh (Mostly Autumn)^[9] and Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief)^[10] cite Latimer as one of their primary influences. Musician and producer Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree is a known fan of Camel and has stated, "Andy Latimer means very much for me."^[11]

Latimer received a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2014 Progressive Music Awards.^[12]

We encourage you to visit Andrew's Bandcamp page to learn more about the releases and to purchase copies for yourself.

Tonight's Playlist is:

Hour One:

War Stories, Lady Fantasy (Acoustic)

Track Titles :
Home
The Beating Heart
Winds of Change
Before the storm
In the Dark
A Prayer
We are One
Belief
Waiting
Lost for words
The Cellist
The Phoenix
Long Road Ahead
Going Home.

Andrew Latimer : Music & All instruments
Pete Jones : Lyrics, vocals and sax on "In the Dark" and "Going Home"
Guy Leblanc : Piano, bass and drums on "Going Home"
Colin Bass : Artwork

Andrew Latimer : Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
Guy Leblanc : Piano and harmony vocals.
Colin Bass : Design
Drawing: Henri Matisse

Hour Two:

Mood Indigo, White Rider, Watching the Bobbins, Journey's End Suite

Music and all instruments : Andrew Latimer
Artwork : Colin Bass
Photo: Campbell Skinner

White Rider & Bobbins:
Guy LeBlanc: All keyboards
Andrew Latimer : Acoustic Guitar and vocals

Running Towards the light
The Living Forest
Return to the Stars

Music and instruments : Andrew Latimer
Artwork and Inspiration : Colin Bass

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