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from Ear Pollution e-zine (posted 11.4.2002)
written by Mark Teppo
http://www.earpollution.com/
eM Outward (The Foundry - 2002)
The second in Foundry's series of ambient EPs, Outward picks up where eM's All the Stars Burning Bright left off. Radio signals swirl and fade as we track away from the surface of the earth, lifting towards a more spacious environment, rich with the hum and tone of pulsars and deep space objects. Outward is a three-part suite, each section taking us further into abstract musical territory. Outer space confronts inner space as eM's tones and drifting landscapes expand the possibilities of travel without moving. Outward begins with "From The Earth" and the captive sound of a radio signal, a breath of human voices which become lost in the vaporous signal of deep space. As the signal progresses, there are creaks and groans like the moaning of satellites. The listener is falling away from the warmth of the planet's surface, being thrust away from Earth. "Across the Milky Way" takes you further and further from known space, spitting you across the face of nebulae and the spiral arm of the galaxy, the glittering sine wave of distant stars calling out to you. There is very little human content in what you are hearing now, the source material is all deep space matter. "Beyond the Magellanic Cloud" completes the suite as we drift through a fat cloud of energized particles, our senses tingling and crackling with the impact of ionized molecules. Label head Michael Bentley, who happens to also be the vision behind eM, categorizes the EP series at Foundry as a series of concise short stories, brief interactions between artist and audience that economically passes an idea or concept between the two. With the second release in this series, eM puts forth a succinct and exploratory journey into distant spaces through a meditative and expansive sonic environment. It's a brief trip, but it takes you quite far.