- It's an interesting coincidence that new albums from Vakula and Jeff Mills were released within weeks of each other. Both artists have interests in sci-fi that go beyond sampling their favorite flicks. Mills has composed entire soundtracks for Fritz Lang films Metropolis and Woman In The Moon, and Vakula's 2015 debut album, A Voyage To Arcturus, was based on David Lindsay's 1920 novel of the same name. They're also both fascinated by loops, the bedrock of Mills' more thunderous techno. Mikhaylo Vityuk has said his third album, Cyclicality Between Procyon And Gomeisa, was inspired by "cycles, repetition and interaction."
It's also interesting that those producers have taken their shared interests and influences in radically different directions. Where Mills can sometimes sound as dark, dense and daunting as a black hole, Vityuk's music feels as open, light and airy as the skies above his home in northern Ukraine. But just because the music is less heavy doesn't mean it lacks substance. Save for the odd self-indulgent interlude, like "Dim White Dwarf," Cyclicality Between Procyon And Gomeisa is exquisitely crafted.
Vityuk's love of loops is most apparent on the opening title track, which shimmers and seems to hang suspended like a cloud. "Acteon" sounds like a more gleeful Steve Reich, whose "2x5 Movement III: Fast" Vityuk transformed into more dance-friendly shapes in 2011. Mellow, club-ready rhythms pulse through the slow, beatific Balearic house of "8600 KM Radius" and power the album's cosmic finale, "Sensei Revelation."
The album's peak, however, is "Intergalactic Funk," which begins with a strut before it reaches disco lift-off, the psychedelic guitars growing wilder and echo-drenched. Those riffs are also a reminder that Vityuk keeps one foot in the past and his head in the stars. That was more obvious on last year's psych-rock album, Dedicated To Jim Morrison, and yet here the dust-caked guitar of "Gomeisa Blues" evokes taking peyote in the desert more than visiting an extraterrestrial world. Wherever it goes, Cyclicality Between Procyon And Gomeisa is a vibrant trip.
Tracklist01. Cyclicality Between Procyon And Gomeisa
02. Acteon
03. Flying Over The Sirius
04. Dim White Dwarf
05. Takahashi E-180
06. Double Star System
07. Overcoming Distance
08. Deep Motivation
09. 8600 KM Radius
10. Intergalactic Funk
11. Gomeisa Blues
12. Tommasi Planet
13. 11.41 Light Years
14. Sensei Revelation