- Listening to Motion Sickness Of Time Travel is an experience akin to being held and comforted. The warm, enveloping tones and the gentle throb of the drones are part of it. But Rachel Evans' dreamy voice is the key, calling and solacing from the inside out. Here, as on previous releases, her singing is both instrument and voice, adding siren calls and unintelligible words to the mix, at times reminiscent of Slowdive—particularly on "Eight Nineteen"—at others almost dub-like with vapour trails of echo.
Evans has suggested that MSoTT is an aural "honeymoon," love songs that capture her feelings towards husband Grant, her musical collaborator in their Quiet Evenings project. This notion adds a certain unease to the darker tones of the opening two tracks, particularly "Synastry," but even a short way into the following track "Late Day Sun Silhouettes " it feels as if, once again, everything is alright.
The length of the tracks on Luminaries and Synastry is significantly shorter than ever before. In the past, this duration was critical in keeping you hovering at the edge of consciousness. That Evans still gets this effect is remarkable. "Day Glow" is high on life, washing from an imaginary radio in eternal slow motion. Similarly, "Moving Backward through the Constellations" is spaced out club music when the dawn has long broken. "Ascendant" pays homage to Sonic Boom's E.A.R. project, bathing luxuriously in its inner glow.
Whereas last year's Seeping through the Veil of the Unconscious was an album of slow unveilings that made its mark by capturing a sense of dreaminess, Luminaries & Synastry gains further ground by distilling the structure into songs that extend the dream into daylight.
Tracklist01. Luminaries
02. Synastry
03. Late Day Sun Silhouettes
04. Ascendant
05. Athame
06. Day Glow
07. Moving Backward Through the Constellations
08. Eight Nineteen
09. The Walls Were Dripping With Stars
10. Like Dunes
11. Night