STAR'S END Update 06.28.26

[Star'sEndRadio]

Creative types often ask themselves, "Where do I go next?". For Michael Stearns & Robert Rich in Summer 2025 the answer was: To the recording studio - in collaboration. With the grand ambition of going further together than they would on their own, such a highly anticipated merger has yielded the uncommonly fine REUNION OF BREATH AND WAVES (66:04). An exquisite production by musicians working at the height of their powers this album benefits from the love and understanding of Spacemusic that these two legends bring to the project. While Stearns & Rich may well point to comparable influences, each is known to translate those reference points into markedly different artistic outcomes. In a prediction of unexpected inventions and innovations the team-up has achieved eleven unique and ambitiously questing tracks. Exploring perception and memory through sound under a texture-driven, atmospheric ambiance REUNION OF BREATH AND WAVES conjures an authentic space that, contrary to our darkening age, encourages optimism. As meaning proliferates, then blurs, lines of sprightly dancing sequencer notes spiral outward. Enlivened by reverberant flute solos and lithe glissando guitar, the circulation of synthetic sound bestows a spirited sense of discovery. From soft and smart, to electrical and synthetic, REUNION OF BREATH AND WAVES summons vivid thought zones in which sonics swell to a vast scale. Emanating a form of high-flown futurism it is easy to think and breathe with the music. Wandering between the more receptive brain cells the tone and energy of this work varies in richly imagined departures - leading the listener on an absorbing journey of mood and mind. Everyone has the right to dream. In a world where, "These go to eleven" we are fortunate to have a release set to play rightly in the human register.

Please tune in to the 06.28.26 broadcast of STAR'S END for a track from REUNION OF BREATH AND WAVES, the new release by Michael Stearns & Robert Rich... and much more...

For more on Michael Stearns, please access: http://www.michaelstearns.com

For more on Robert Rich, please access: http://www.robertrich.com

A Conversation with Michael Stearns & Robert Rich (excerpts): http://youtu.be/i9gRkcv0aI8

-

STAR'S END broadcasts every Saturday Night/Sunday Morning from 1:00AM til 6:00AM (EDST) on:

88.5fm WXPN Philadelphia, PA
88.1fm WXPH Harrisburg, PA
90.5fm WKHS Worton/Baltimore, MD
91.9fm WXPJ Hackettstown, NJ
104.9fm Allentown, PA

and live on the world wide web at: http://www.xpn.org

-

Chuck van Zyl
Host of STAR'S END Ambient Radio
http://www.starsend.org