Altered Zones

By Michael P. McGregor

Scientists have long noted the vibrational patterns that emerge from the Earth's crust as well as the infinite nothingness we rightfully dub "space," capturing them with frequency detectors and other such modules. Water's Edge, Future Shuttle's first proper release, feels like what we might hear if we were to travel inside such gadget-- only it's the band's dazzling array of synthesizer, sampler, and flute sounds that create this sense of captured science.  Composed mainly of spiritual synthstresses Camilla Padgitt-Coles and Jessa Farkas, the Brooklyn-based group has been channeling the auditory connections between meditative mantras and nû-age primitivism since the Spring of 2009. While its members are longtime friends with fellow Oberlin College alums Teengirl Fantasy and Blondes (whose Sam Haar gets a producer's credit on Water's Edge), the musical similarities pretty much begin and end with their fascination with hi-fi warmth and lysergic kosmiche jams.

Water's Edge may lead you to imagine a far-off oasis where gypsy voyageurs ride synthesized mantras through an endless vision quest, but the tunes comprising the six-track EP are wholly constructed-- many of them birthed, and re-birthed, through repetition. Fragments of melody grow, sway, or veer far away, only to become whole in the recording process. Make no mistake, these are songs. But they are also living, breathing entities, nurtured slowly over time until they are ready to fly. Songs like "Fog Spelunk" and "Rain Source" sound more akin to the breathy, sound sculptures of acid house than the undulating, long-form improvisations of the kosmiche-era, recalling anything from Orbital's more mellow-tonin moments (the intros to "Halcyon" and "Belfast," for example) to The KLF's proto-Chill-Out LP, the aptly titled Chill Out.

Future Shuttle: Water's Edge

Water's Edge 12" EP is out now via Intercoastal Artists/Holy Mountain, and comes with a digital download with three additional tracks